CHIN 2441 Film and the Dynamics of Chinese Culture: Find Books

Compiled by two skilled librarians and a Taiwanese film and culture specialist, this volume is the first multilingual and most comprehensive bibliography of Taiwanese film scholarship. It catalogues the published and unpublished monographs, theses, manuscripts, and conference proceedings of Taiwanese film scholars from the 1950s to 2013.

The founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 marked the end of an era of Chinese filmmaking, an era marked by a high level of artistic and technical development. Since that time, it has been impossible to separate filmmaking from politics. When the Chinese Communist Party has loosened controls and encouraged art and culture, the film industry has prospered. From A to Z this comprehensive reference work provides filmographic data on 2,444 Chinese features released since the formation of the People's Republic of China. The films reflect the shifting dynamics of the Chinese film industry, from sweeping epics to unabashedly political docudramas, although straight documentaries are excluded from the current work. The entries include the title in English, the Chinese title, year of release, studio, technical information (e.g., black and white or color, letterboxed or widescreen), length, technical credits, literary source (when applicable), cast, plot summary, and awards won.

The Encyclopedia of Chinese Film, one of the first ever encyclopedias in this area, provides alphabetically organized entries on directors, genres, themes, and actors and actresses from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as 300 film synopses. Great care has been taken to provide solid cultural and historical context to the facts. The alphabetical entries are preceded by a substantial historical section, incorporating material on the the main studios and analysing the impact of Chinese film abroad as well as at home in recent years. This Encyclopedia meets the needs, equally, of * the film studies scholar * the student of Chinese culture * the specialist in Chinese film * the curious viewer wanting to know more. Additional features include: * comprehensive cross-references and suggestions for further reading * a list of relevant websites * a chronology of films and a classified contents list * three indexes - (one of film and tv titles with directors names and year of release, one of names including actors, writers, directors and producers and one of studios, all with pinyin romanizations) * a glossary of pinyin romanizations, Chinese characters and English equivalents to aid the specialist in moving between Chinese titles and English translations.

Taiwan was able to solidly build and sustain a film industry only after locally-produced Mandarin films secured markets in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s. Though only a small island with a limited population, in its heyday, Taiwan was among the top-10 film producing countries/areas in the world, turning out hundreds of martial arts kung fu films and romantic melodramas annually that were screened in theaters across Southeast Asia and other areas internationally. However, except for one acclaimed film by director King Hu, Taiwan cinema was nearly invisible on the art cinema map until the 1980s, when the films of Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, and other Taiwan New Cinema directors gained recognition at international film festivals, first in Europe, and later, throughout the world. Since then, many other Taiwan directors have also become an important part of cinema history, such as Ang Lee and Tsai Ming-liang. The Historical Dictionary of Taiwan Cinema covers the history of cinema in Taiwan during both the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) and the Chinese Nationalist period (1945-present). This is accomplished through a chronology highlighting the main events during the long period and an introduction which carefully analyses the progression. The bulk of the information, however, appears in a dictionary section including over a hundred very extensive entries on directors, producers, performers, films, film studios and genres. Photos are also included in the dictionary section. More information can be found through the bibliography. Taiwan cinema is truly unique and this book is a good place to find out more about it, whether you are a student, or teacher, or just a fan.