The Political via the Cinematic: Tracing China's Transformation Toward a Globally Ambitious State

Starting with a brief critical history of the Chinese film industry since the beginning of this century, this essay reviews the emergence of the cultural industries in China alongside globalizing forces as well as Chinese state policies, particularly Deng Xiaoping’s far-reaching market-opening reforms. While interpreting Chinese global ambitions as represented through the prism of its national cinema, this paper asks: How are institutions and aesthetics interacting in ways that exhibit resonances and tensions between the cinematic and the political? It pays particular attention to the transformations in institutional conditions of cultural production and circulation. First, it shows how these changes were animated by globalizing forces, and how they were influenced by the Chinese state policy. Next, it tackles three Chinese films, Hero (2002), The Great Wall (2016), and Wolf Warrior II (2017), as distinct instances of Chinese cinematic production that represent a steady trajectory toward a more globalized posture of the Chinese state. This paper unveils how selected themes and aesthetics represent varying levels of the state’s globalized posture and signal a transformation from a relatively national stance toward a more globally ambitious one that attempts to project national capability and power globally. This transformation mirrors the steady trajectory of China’s increasing incorporation into the global capitalist economy.