Joan Chen

Third Cinema in China: Yellow Earth What is identified as 'excess' in Western cinematic experience is, therefore, precisely where we locate Third World cinema. -Teshome Gabriel The possibility of a Third Cinema in China is encouraged with Chen Kaige's 1984 film Yellow Earth. Drawing upon Teshome Gabriel's framework, a working definition of Third Cinema is possible in the case of Chinese cinema. The "fifth generation" of China's film-makers is credited in making films such as Yellow Earth

Mao Zedong was a revolutionary who was a leading factor in the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Mao Zedong was originally born in Shaoshan, China later moving to the capital Beijing to study, later getting a job at Peking University library where he was around other scholars. After World War I, the world was negotiating the Treaty of Versailles that gave Japan territory that previously belonged to Germany sparked the New Culture Movement because China had a weak response. The New

asked Yu Ji to flee for the sake of her own safety. While Yu Ji refused to leave the king alone, she performed the very last time for the king and cut her throat with his sword, being faithful to him until death. Although entitled with the same name, Chen Kaige’s film directed in 1993 was well beyond a love story. The film frequently referred to the play Farewell My Concubine; however, it advanced the play in depicting China’s mid-20th history, conveying values to audiences, and hinting characters’

dazhao and adopted Marxism as the way to improve China’s conditions. He joined the Communist party as an ordinary worker and with his brilliance rose to Chairman. Rise of CCP A brief history of the Chinese Communist Party, it was established in 1921 by Chen Duxiu （陳獨秀）and Li Dazhao（李大釗）, CCP came to rise in power and respect during the Nanjing decade, when the nationalist party took over from the warlord government. The Kuomintang party did indoctrinate a lot of policies to change the shape of china’s

One of the most significant changes occurred in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. During the revolution itself, China was virtually cut off from the rest of the world in a form of extreme “cultural protectionism” (Hong, 1998, p.2). There was a severe lack of cultural imports during the Cultural Revolution, regardless of whether they were industrial or cultural imports. However, under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, an era of reform began in China. The nation began to open itself up politically and

In the film “Departures” we follow the story of Daigo, a cellist who after losing his job working in an orchestra moves back to his old home to find a new job. By mistake he winds up getting a new job as an “encoffiner”, which is someone who prepares dead bodies to be placed in their coffins. At first this seems like it would be a horrible job to have, and Daigo seems to take shame in his job, even going as far as hiding it from his wife. However, as time goes on he learns to take pride in his new

Does the film Huang tudi (Yellow Earth) offer a critique of the Communist revolution? If so where and how? Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou’s Yellow Earth is a meaningful and controversial film that highlights the young and old, realist and idealist, as well as the ideal utopia and bounded bureaucracies – touching on the notion of fate. Set in early 1939 in China, Yellow Earth follows the story of Gu Qing, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) soldier sent out among the peasants in Northern Shaanxi to collect

prioritized. Known for his vigorous attack on various elements of Confucianism and often regarded as a radical anti-traditionalist, Chen Duxiu (1879-1942), leader of the May Fourth Movement and cofounder of the Communist Party of China, argued that the freedoms of thought and speech were necessary things in life and indispensable for the development of one’s personality (Chen 1915, 1984c). He insisted on the absolute freedom of speech, arguing

the May Fourth Movement, Marxism spread rapidly in China with the rise of national sentiment, the increased consciousness of anti-warlord and anti-imperialist and the publication of New Youth by Chen Du-xiu (September 1916). Plus, the influence of October Revolution in Russia. In 1921, Li Daz-hao and Chen Du-Xiu were with the help of Russians, who established the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. The establishment of the Communist Party has a profound and long-lasting (far-reaching) impact on

The May Fourth Movement has taken on a seminal importance in narratives of China’s journey to modernity. The movement was sparked by the perceived injustice of the treatment of China at the hands of foreign powers in the Treaty of Versailles, where the province of Shandong was given over to the Japanese. Protests against this injustice swiftly turned into a wider cultural movement that was articulated in terms of an opposition between Confucian traditionalists and progressive reformers, leading historians