Confronting Modernity in the Cinemas of Taiwan and Mainland China

This book is a cultural study of New Wave cinema that considers the experience of modernity and modernization in Taiwan and mainland China. While following separate paths, Taiwan and China have rapidly modernized, economically and culturally, since 1949. Despite differences in the political, social and economic systems of these countries, the process of modernization in both have challenged traditional cultural norms. Tonglin Lu examines how differences in cultural formation between Taiwan and China have influenced reactions to modernity and how cultural identity has taken different forms on both sides of the Taiwan straits. She illustrates how these differences in the experience of modernity are expressed through analysis of paradigmatic films produced in both countries, with a particular emphasis on their formal experiments.

List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. On the Cultural and Ideological Margins: 1. Continuity and subversion; 2. Allegorical and realistic portrayals of the cultural revolution; Part II. In Search of Tradition in the Midst of Modernization: 3. From a voiceless father to a father's voice; 4. Melodrama of the city; Part III. The Third-World Intellectual in the Era of Globalization: 5. The Zhang Yimou model; 6. Culture and violence; 7. A postcolonial reflection; Epilogue; Notes; Glossary; Bibliography; Filmography; Index.

Lu examines how differences in cultural formation between Taiwan and mainland China have influenced reactions to modernity and how cultural identity has taken different forms on both sides of the Taiwan straits. She illustrates how these differences are expressed through analysis of paradigmatic films produced in both countries.