The book is a chronological study of the history of films related to Chinese minorities from the period of 1927 through 2010 focusing on many aspects such as their themes, cinematic story-telling styles, ideological impact, and their commercialization and globalization. The book also takes a look at these films regarding Chinese Minorities in order to provide definitions and explore the areas of female imagery, features of TV films, film-making strategies and more.
The author divides the history into seven stages. The first stage begins in 1927, the year when Mulan, the first film related to the theme of Chinese minorities, was produced, and ends in 1949, the year when the People’s Republic of China was founded. The second stage lasts from 1949 to 1955, featuring The Victory of the People of Inner Mongolia as the first Chinese minority themed film. The policy of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend heralds the third stage (1956-1959). The fourth stage (1960-1976) is considered a period of twists and turns. The film-making is compared to dancing with shackles on due to its stagnation arising from the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. The fifth stage is from 1977 to 1989, which witnesses the revival of Chinese Minority film-making that came with the reform and opening up policy promulgated in 1978. The sixth stage (1990-1999) is viewed as the transition phase, in which the economic restructuring has an impact on film-making. The seventh stage from 2000 to 2010 is featured by a boom of the market-driven Chinese Minority film industry.
A Film History of Chinese Minorities is of great significance. As for the theoretical significance, the book is good to the film studies and culture studies. As for the practical significance, it helps to understand the Chinese Minority culture. The methodology of the book includes documentation, comparison, analysis and explanation.
