A Brief History of Dong Hua: Taster
It all began in 1922. Between 1922 and 45 was a period when China discovered and explored animation for itself. The main force behind early Chinese animation were three classically trained art students from Shanghai, the Wan brothers, who taught themselves the techniques of animation from studying 20s American cartoons such as Out of the Ink Well, Popeye and Betty Boop. The very first Dong Hua movie, “Uproar In the Studio”, was born in 1926 in a 7 square metre room in Zha Bei district of Shanghai.
Posted in Blog and tagged animation, china, Chinese, cinema, culture, film, history, pop culture by Xueting Ni
Have a Nice Day
When I first heard about this Chinese animation, it was in the context of bankable dissent, so I was pre-disposed to dismissing this work, but when I actually had a chance to see some of the footage, I was thoroughly impressed, and subsequently, very happy to hear it was being screened at the Genesis.
Posted in Blog and tagged animation, china, Chinese, culture, Dong Hua, film, indie, pop culture, synth pop by Xueting Ni
The March of China’s Female Filmmakers
Today is International Women’s Day, or more precisely International Working Women’s Day or The United Nations Women’s Rights and International Peace Day. In China, this has been major celebration of women in all fields since 1924, when the working women of Guangzhou, influenced by the international movement, started one in China, where women united and stood up for their rights across the National and Communist divide. Feminism, however has been problematic in China, after the fall of the thousand-year-old imperial patriarchy, it has taken up as the mantra of male-dominated for most of the twentieth centuries. This year, I’m going to discuss women in the driving seat in cinema, a vital medium because it’s one of the faces of China that within everyone is familiar, to a lesser or greater extent, and a very influential art form that is flourishing and evolving rapidly within China.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, cinema, culture, feminism, film, International Women's Day, women's rights by Xueting Ni
Contemporary Chinese Cinema Lecture, QMUL, 5th December 2017
Like its turbulent history, Chinese cinema has undergone many upheavals throughout the twentieth century, from an art form that was virtually non-existent at the beginning of the century, to a tradition that developed its own aesthetic, studio systems and language. It was employed by the state to further war efforts and revolution, after which it became a medium of response and rebellion. Privatization of the industry towards the end of the century eventually led to a new interdependence between the state and filmmakers that propelled Chinese cinema into the twenty-first century, with an explosion of genres, production and distribution methods.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, contemporary cinema, culture, film, lecture, QMUL by Xueting Ni
Raiding China’s Tomb Adventures
Our penultimate post is about popular Chinese fiction of the ghostly, grave-robbing kind. We are thrilled to post this piece by writer and translator Xueting Christine Ni, who is currently working with the fantasy and science fiction author Tang Fei, and writing a book on Chinese deities. Having studied English literature in London, and Chinese literature in Beijing, she is now based mainly in the UK.
As a writer on Chinese culture, specialising in pop culture, I’m often asked about genre fiction. “Do the Chinese do science fiction?” or “Does China have Horror?” Over the last two decades or so, Chinese pop culture has grown exponentially. Economic growth and relative political stability have allowed writers and artists the space to let their imagination run free and to create in readers a taste for such entertainment and variety.
Posted in Blog and tagged books, china, Chinese, comic, culture, film, ghost story, horror, literature, novel, tomb raiding, translation by Xueting Ni
QMUL Confucius Institute Movie Night: Monkey Magic!
We are comingto the end of the Chinese Year of the Monkey, a year that was celebrated in the cinema with the release of “Monkey King 2″, the follow up to the 2014 Donnie Yen film. The Monkey, Sun Wukong, with his origins in the classic text “Journey to the West”, has now become an international symbol of Chinese culture, as important to China’s overseas image as Confucius, Mao Ze Dong, and Bruce Lee.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese culture, film, Journey to the West, london, Monkey, movie night, QMUL by Xueting Ni
Star Wars and China
“To rebel is justified”. Mao Ze Dong
Almost every geek in the Western hemisphere, and many on the other side, have anticipated the release of the Star Wars spin off film “Rogue One”. I managed to see it last week, and was impressed with it. I loved how it filled the narrative between Episodes 3 and 4 of the saga, without making itself a necessity, how it tied in very snuggly with animated series “Star Wars Rebels”, which I have also been following, and how, despite its gritty tone, was ultimately uplifting. There is something eternally gratifying about seeing a small, unlikely band of outlaws with more guts than ammo railing against the dread powers that be. What I most loved though, was seeing actors from my home country, Donnie Yen and Jiang Wu, in a movie that is part of a new, sprawling global mythology.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, culture, Donnie Yen, film, Geek, Jiang Wu, Rebels, review, Rogue One, Star Wars by Xueting Ni
Introducing the QMUL Confucius Institute Movie Night
I have the pleasure of presenting the first QMUL Confucius Institute Movie Night. Here’s a little from my introduction.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, Confucius Institute, culture, film, QMUL by Xueting Ni
Kuai Xian
“Kuai Xian”, given the English title of “The Curse of the Chopsticks” is directed by Ji Yu. It begins with an attack on a patient who has just received a transplant at a private eye hospital, their new eyes mangled and a pair of bloody chopsticks left at the scene.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, culture, film, horror, review by Xueting Ni
On Chinese Arts in Western Media
Recently numerous friends on social media have pointed out to me the shockingly underinformed or dubious ways in which the Chinese arts have been represented in the Western media. I have been impressed by your astuteness and I thank you for your kindness.
Posted in Blog and tagged animation, arts, china, Chinese culture, comics, commentary, film, literature, novel, representation, science fiction by Xueting Ni