Not sure what it's like back where you live, but here in Shanghai winter is still with us so it's the perfect time of year to ignore the outdoors entirely and kick back with your flat-screen! Before, we touched on the often-bizarre world of Chinese television, but today we're talking about the big screen. Here in China foreign movies are widely available and very popular (both in legal and illegal formats), but there's a long and rich tradition of homegrown Mainland cinema, so we'll take a quick look at the fascinating realm of Chinese movies.

"If you don't have a job and you are not rich, blame yourself!"

First we'll do a little vocab and punctuation clarification: 电影 (diànyǐng) is the general term to "movie" or "film", and in the tradition of "电" words, it has a great literal translation: "electric shadow", which makes perfect sense. The most commonly-used measure word is 部 (bù), as in "两部电影" (liǎng bù diànyǐng), which would mean "two movies" or "a double feature". To see one, you'd go to a 电影院 (diànyǐngyuàn, "movie theater") and buy yourself some 爆米花 (bàomǐhuā, "popcorn"). Depending on your favorite 分类 (fēnlèi, "genre"), you can enjoy a nice 爱情片 (àiqíngpiàn, "romance film"), 喜剧 (xǐjù, "comedy film") or even a 动作片 (dòngzuòpiàn, "action film") if your 女朋友 isn't tagging along. As is common practice with most Chinese names for movies, books, and other media, we'll be using《》to mark the titles. Now, on to the good stuff!

Chinese cinema, interestingly enough, is nearly as old as American or European cinema: the first Chinese film,《定军山》(Dìngjūn Shān), usually referred to in English as "The Battle of Dingjunshan", premiered in 1905, less than ten years after the first bits of celluloid flickered across Western screens. The film depicted a famous Peking Opera show, but China's film industry remained centered around Shanghai (score one for us!) for the next several decades, in no small part due to the foreign influence here. Films continued to be produced from then on, but the first movies that really made a cinematic impact were released a few decades later. In particular, the films of Zheng Zhengqiu (郑正秋) and Sun Yu (孙瑜) marked serious turning points, as their films incorporated deep characters, socially resonant plots, and advanced (for the time) production values. 郑's 《姊妹花》 (Zǐmèihuā, "Twin Sisters") and 孙's《天明》(Tiānmíng, "Daybreak") were particularly influential because of the dark, revealing stories they told and the fame they brought some of their actors, especially 黎莉莉 (Lily Li, one of the least creative English name choices of all time). Perhaps the best-known film of this era, which came to be known as first cinematic "Golden Age", is《神女》(Shénnǚ, "The Goddess", which is a great example of Chinese word play), which told the story of a Shanghai prostitute and is recognized by many critics around the world as one of the finest films of the 1930's. It also produced a star, 阮玲玉 (Ruan Lingyu), who came to symbolize China's first Golden Age of film.

Little serious cinema was produced during the Japanese occupation, but towards the end of the 1940's the industry began to re-emerge, with classics including the politically-charged《乌鸦与麻雀》("Crows and Sparrows", Wūyā Yǔmáquè) and the famous class struggle film《万家灯火》("Myriad of Lights", Wànjiā Dēnghuǒ) being released. A fantastic film from that era, and a favorite around the CPod office, is 小城之春 ("Spring in a Small Town", Xiǎochéng Zhī Chūn), which tells an apolitical love story, unusual for its time. After the founding of the PRC, the government took a strong interest in the film industry, and a number of successful films were produced during that era, but as the Cultural Revolution took hold, cinema in Mainland China ground to an unfortunate halt.

"How's that workin' for you?"

As China began to open up to the world culturally and economically in the early 1980's, a brilliant new era of cinema flourished; many of the Mainland's best-known and most-loved films come from this era. Often known as 第五代导演 (dìwǔ dài dǎoyǎn) or "Fifth Generation Directors", the group of filmmakers working during the 80's and early 90's made Chinese cinema an international brand and brought their own distinct style (or 风格, fēnggé in this context) to the big screen. Directors like 张艺谋 (Zhang Yimou), 张军钊 (Zhang Junzhao) and 陈凯歌 (Chen Kaige) created classics like《大红灯笼高高挂》("Raise the Red Lantern", Dà Hóng Dēnglóng Gāogāo Guà),《一个和八个》("One and Eight", Yīge hé Bāge), and the Cannes-conquering《霸王别姬》("Farewell My Concubine", Bàwáng Bié Jī), respectively.《大红灯笼高高挂》was particularly well received, winning countless awards (including an Oscar), making a global star (and a funky song) out of the gorgeous actress 巩俐 (Gong Li). Many of the 第五代导演's films are epic dramas, but they tell stories differently from their predecessors; while many maintained famous historical settings, the emphasis was on political and social issues, as well deep symbolism and imagery, rather than basic character development. This set a precedent for a sort of new Mainland cinematic style that remains today, and many of the directors (张艺谋 in particular) are still among the world's elite; 张艺谋 directed the new film《金陵十三钗》("Flowers of War", Jīnlíng Shísān Chāi), starring the Welsh actor Christian Bale.

"We need a leader, not a reader"

We'd be entirely remiss in this discussion if we didn't talk a bit about perhaps the most famous genre of Chinese film: the 武侠 (wǔxiá, literally "military/martial hero") film, perhaps better-known as the martial arts (武术, wǔshù) genre. It's quite a diverse and broad genre, but in the realm of film it tends to feature chivalrous, lower-class men (the eponymous 侠, or hero) fighting against injustice and evil with incomprehensibly awesome martial arts skills. Critics frequently point to the similarities between 武侠 and classic American Westerns, though it may be tough to imagine Clint Eastwood performing multiple roundhouse kicks. Many of China's most famous stars, including Jet Li (李连杰, Lǐ Liánjié), Jackie Chan (成龙, Chéng Lóng) and Bruce Lee (李小龙, Lǐ Xiǎolóng) (though Chan and Lee are both Hong Kong and US-born, respectively), have appeared in prominent 武侠 films, and some of the country's finest directors, including 张艺谋, whom we discussed earlier, are masters of the genre. One of the most famous (some would say best)武侠 films is 《卧虎藏龙》 ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Wòhǔ Cánglóng), which helped bring the genre to a wider, Western audience. A collaboration between filmmakers in the Mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States, the film was a massive hit, telling a story of deception, theft, revenge and awesomeness set during the Qing Dynasty.

We hope you've enjoyed this brief look at the amazing history (and present) of Chinese cinema - it's a fascinating field that we fully encourage you to explore further! If you're interested, some well known films (other than the ones already mentioned) include 《红高粱》 ("Red Sorghum, Hóng Gāoliáng), 《活着》 ("To Live", Huózhe), 《落叶归根》 ("Getting Home", Lùo yè gūi gēn) and《不见不散》("Be There or Be Square", Bújiàn búsàn). Watching Chinese films is a great way to get extra listening practice (while having fun), so go out and see as many as you can!