Overview: The Filmmaking Generations i
Part One: History in and out of Melodrama: Glory, Guilt, and Fantasy 21
1. Two Stage Sisters (Wutaijiemei, dir. Xie Jin, 1965) 29
Director's Notes
"Two Stage Sisters: The Blossoming of a Revolutionary Aesthetic"
Gina Marchetti
2. Hibiscus Town(Furongzhen, dir. Xie Jin, 1986) 52
Director's Notes
"Society and Subjectivity: On the Political Economy of Chinese Melodrama"
Nick Browne
3. Farewell My Concubine (Bawang bieji, dir. Chen Kaige, 1993) 69
Director's Notes
"The Concubine and the Figure of History: Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine"
Wendy Larson
Part Two: Speaking for the Other: Changing Allegorical Roles for Women 87
4. StreetAngel(Malu tianshi, dir. Yuan Muzhi, 1937) 93
An Outline for Viewing Street Angel
"The Textual and Critical Difference of Being Radical:
Reconstructing Chinese Leftist Films of the 1930s"
Ma Ning
5. Three Women a.k.a. Women Side by Side (Liren xing, dir. Chen Liting, 1949) o
From "Xin niixing to Liren xing: Changing Conceptions of
the 'New Woman' in Republican Era Chinese Films
Vivian Shen
6. Woman, Demon, Human a.k.a. Human, Woman, Demon
(Renguiqing, dir. Huang Shuqin, 1988) I29
Director's Notes
"Human, Woman, Demon: A Woman's Predicament"
Dai Jinhua (Translated by Kirk Denton)
7. Ju Dou(dir. Zhang Yimou, 1990) ISI
Director's Notes
"Ju Dou-A Hermeneutical Reading of Cross-Cultural Cinema"
Jenny Kwok Wah Lau
Part Three: Cinema Exotica: Ethnic Minorities as the PRC's "Internal Other" 165
8. Girl from Hunan(Xiangn Xiaoxiao, dir. Xie Fei, Wu Lan, 1986) I7I
Director's Notes
"'Hsiao-hsiao' and Girl from Hunan:
Teaching Chinese Narrative, Not Just Chinese Fiction"
Stephanie Hoare
9. Sacrificed Youth (Qingchunji, dir. Zhang Nuanxin, 1985) 8i
Director's Notes
"Is China the End of Hermeneutics?; or, Political and
Cultural Usage of Non-Han Women in Mainland Chinese Films"
Esther C. M. Yau
10. Horse Thief(Daomazei, dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1986) 197
Director's Notes
"Tian Zhuangzhuang, the Fifth Generation, and Minorities Film in China"
Dru C. Gladney
Part Four: The Chinese Western: Roots Hidden in the Yellow Earth 23
11. Yellow Earth(Huang tudi, dir. Chen Kaige, 1984) 219
Director's Notes
"The 'Hidden' Gender in Yellow Earth"
Mary Ann Farquhar
12. Old Well(Laojing, dir. Wu Tianming, 1987) 233
Director's Notes
From "Digging an Old Well: The Labor of Social Fantasy"
Rey Chow
13. Red Sorghum(Hong gaoliang, dir. Zhang Yimou, 1987) 248
Director's Notes
"Red Sorghum: Mixing Memory and Desire"
Eugene Yuejin Wang
Part Five: New City Films: Beyond-Yellow-Earth Experiences of Postsocialism 277
14. Black Cannon Incident(Heipao shijian, dir. Huang Jianxin, 1985) 283
Director's Notes
From "Post-Socialist Strategies: An Analysis of Yellow Earth
and Black Cannon Incident"
Chris Berry and Mary Ann Farquhar
15. Good Morning, Beijing(Beijing, nizao, dir. Zhang Nuanxin, 1990) 3o2
Director's Notes
"In Search of the Real City: Cinematic Representations of Beijing and
the Politics of Vision"
Xiaobing Tang
Appendix 1. Discussion Questions 3z9
Appendix 2. Pronouncing Romanized Chinese 344
Appendix 3. Video Purchase and Film Rental Information 347
Bibliography 349
Index 367