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The essays in Ying Zhu and Stanley Rosen's collection, Art, Politics, and Commerce in Chinese Cinema originated in an event marking the hundredth anniversary of Chinese film production. Prompted to re-examination of history by this event, the resulting work is often broad in coverage at the same time as it questions received wisdom. Written by established leading scholars, the result is a collection of position statements. Especially if combined with other writing more focused on the films themselves, Art, Politics, and Commerce in Chinese Cinema could be used as a textbook. Its absence of engagement with theory may put off more advanced researchers, but will make it accessible for high-school students or lower-level undergraduates. However, in contrast to the recent tendency to group "Chinese-language cinemas" together, the focus is almost entirely on the People's Republic of China. Readers will have to decide how they feel about the possible implication of excluding everywhere outside the People's Republic from the domain of "Chinese cinema."
Art, Politics, and Commerce in Chinese Cinema pioneers in Chinese film studies the general trend to move away from purely text-centred analysis and to give equal weight to industry and government policy. The first...