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Chinese Stars Promise to Behave, Or Else

Nov 13, 2015 / News /

The latest twist in Xi Jinping’s vision of wholesome Chinese culture involves Chinese celebrities pledging their adherence to morally upstanding conduct. It would be difficult to imagine a similar scene in Hollywood, with, say, Jennifer Lawrence and Warner Brothers CEO Kenji Tsujihara proclaiming their intention to behave according to government directives. Yet that is exactly Read More

Chinese Filmmakers Zhang Yimou and Zhang Zhao Honored in Hollywood

Nov 6, 2015 / News /

Over 20 years ago, Zhang Zhao was a bicycle delivery man working his way through film school at New York University. One day, the Shanghai native bought a ticket to Farewell My Concubine, his countryman Chen Kaige’s 1993 epic movie about Beijing Opera players caught up in mid-century political turmoil. “[The movie] made me cry Read More

Wang Jianlin’s Open Lecture at Harvard Gets Partial Shutdown at Home

Nov 5, 2015 / News /

Dalian Wanda Group chairman Wang Jianlin (a.k.a. China’s richest man) is perhaps the leading representative for the realization of the “Chinese Dream,” a vision of a revitalized national greatness that takes global soft power as a central theme. Yet even as Wang’s empire reaches around the globe, his words are being curtailed back home. Last week, Read More

Film Looms Large in Lego’s China Business Interests

Nov 2, 2015 / News /

In the recent high-profile public relations battle between artist Ai Weiwei and Lego, significant attention has been directed to the toy behemoth’s rapidly growing business interests in China. Read More

China’s Filmmakers Directed to Heed Socialism—Will Hollywood Follow?

Oct 31, 2015 / News /

Just days after the recent publication of the full transcript of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s major speech on arts and culture from October 2014, the country’s top leadership gave further indication that Xi’s retro vision of patriotic and morality-infused entertainment is meant to have an actual impact on China’s cultural scene. On October 20, the Read More

Chinese Hits Miss Out on the Global Box Office

Oct 26, 2015 / News /

If he’d had the time after meeting American captains of industry in Seattle and Barack Obama at the White House, Chinese President Xi Jinping might have ducked out at the close of his United Nations appearance and into a New York movie theater to check on how China’s other soft power ambassadors—its movies, not its Read More

Xi’s U.K. Visit Yields Deals in Entertainment and Media

Oct 23, 2015 / News /

Chinese president Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United Kingdom ushers in a widely heralded “golden age” in relations between the two countries, and may also represent a watershed for China’s global soft-power ambitions. Creativity and cultural exchange are “at the heart of developments” in the strengthening of the U.K.-China relationship, according to the British Read More

IMAX Bets China’s Rich Will Skip Box Office for Lavish Private Theaters

Oct 23, 2015 / News /

IMAX is giving wealthy Chinese the luxury to stay home for that next blockbuster to come to the big screen. All they need is $400,000 and a large house to fit the gargantuan 20-feet-by-10-feet screens. The Canadian company partnered with Chinese company TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd. to launch its home theater system earlier this Read More

Chinese President’s Speech on the Arts: The Hollywood Connection

Oct 20, 2015 / News /

Last October 15, at the Beijing Forum on Literature and Art, Chinese president Xi Jinping spoke to a high-level audience involved in the creative industries on the role and direction of China’s arts and culture. While the occasion of the speech, titled “Talks at the Forum on Literature and Art Work,” along with some excerpts, was Read More

Dalian Wanda Opens $2.5 Billion Theme Park Resort in Southwest China

Oct 20, 2015 / News /

Developer Dalian Wanda dropped a big one on China’s southwestern region at the end of last month with the grand opening of its $2.5 billion Xishuangbanna International Resort. The entertainment complex is the second head-turning opening from the Dalian Wanda Group in the past year and another in a line of massive developments, such as Read More

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