Take a Journey to Experience Chinese History Through Chinese Movies

The impression of Chinese movies, that most Americans maintain, is all about Chinese Kung Fu and Hong Kong crime films (See the Top 100 Chinese Movies from IMDb). However, in recent years, many talented directors and diverse movie themes have emerged, which leads China’s film industry into a “golden age.” Since Chinese history is always a huge topic, many movies tell stories, whether real or fictional, happened at a particular time in the past. Those movies depict Chinese history vividly and let us experience what happened. “The Flowers of War” and “Youth” are two representative examples.

“The Flowers of War”

(The official poster of “The Flowers of War”)

“The Flowers of War”, released in December 2011, was directed by Zhang Yimou. In 1937, when the Japanese army overrun Nanking and started the massacre, some schoolgirls, a boy and John Miller, an American mortician on a task to bury the head priest stayed in a cathedral and waited for rescue. Meanwhile, a group of flamboyant prostitutes forced their way into the cathedral and hid in the cellar. After seeing kids and women being raped and killed, Miller, pretending to be the priest, tried to keep everyone safe and repair the truck for an escape. However, one Japanese Colonel asked the schoolgirls to sing at the Japanese Army's victory celebration. Knowing what would happen at the celebration, the schoolgirls tried to suicide but were saved by Miller and prostitutes. The prostitutes decided to protect the schoolgirls by taking their place at the celebration and risked their lives to save these schoolgirls.

(A song the prostitutes sang before they went to the Japanese celebration)

“Youth”

(The official poster of “Youth”)

“Youth” was directed by Feng Xiaogang and released in 2017. The film talks about stories that happened in the People’s Liberation Army dance troupe in the early 1970s during the Cultural Revolution in China. The two key characters, Feng Liu and Xiaoping He, after experiencing love, glory, betrayal and forgiveness, both participated in the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979 and became heroes for their brave actions. Although they were honorably discharged from the Army, they experienced the struggling lives before they finally found love in each other.

(The official trailer of "Youth")

The stories of “The Flowers of War” and “Youth” are fictional, but they do represent some people’s life during the Nanking Massacre and the Cultural Revolution, which take us to a journey to experience Chinese history. These movies are informative and helpful for those who are interested in China, but actually, they are not promoted widely in the U.S. that most people never heard of them. So what can they do to promote themselves in the western cultures?

• Hire more foreign actors

Foreign actors, especially well-known ones, can attract audiences oversea, just like John Miller from “The Flowers of War” was actually acted by Christian Bale. However, hiring foreign actors is not always perfect for all movies that are related to history. You have to pay careful attention to the decisions.

• Speak in a familiar cinematic “syntax”

According to Robert Simonds, chairman and CEO of STX Entertainment, in order to attract more global audiences, Chinese movies have to tell stories with more traditional three-act structures and scene progression that will be easily recognizable in other nations. The three-act structure is widely used in narrative fictions. It divides a story into three acts, which help audiences to stay excited and understand the story better.

• Cross promote on diverse social media channels

As technology develops, social media become the indispensable part of people’s lives. On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and so many other social media platforms, people not only socialize with friends, but gather news and information all over the world. Different from other Chinese movies, those related to Chinese history need more cultural or historical backgrounds, so it’s even more important to spread information and let people from other cultures get familiar with the backgrounds of the movies before they enter the cinema. If the official accounts of these Chinese movies can post and engage with audiences more often, there is no doubt that they will appeal to more global audiences.

Here are the three simple but effective ways to help Chinese movies, especially those represent Chinese history, attract more attention and audiences in the western cultures. Since most of them are fact-based, they are able to clearly describe what happened in the past, which, I believe, can help people understand Chinese history and culture better and are worth spreading widely.