Overview

Hong Kong Cinema and Sinophone Transnationalisms explores the intricate complexity of selected films and film-making practices from 1930s Hong Kong (and Shanghai) to the later 'new wave' phenomenon of the 1980s. The result is a Sinophone cinema that created some very different ways of understanding 'China' and 'Chineseness', developing their own 'cosmopolitan dreaming' within the cultural and economic changes of those times. Exploring sinification and its multiple manifestations in film, the book examines cinematic genres including Huangmei Opera films, qiqing (strange or queer romance) films, fanchuaners (professional cross-sex performers) in film, Hong Kong's Bond Movies (bangpian), erotic (fengyue) films, and New Wave Hong Kong cinema. In doing so, this book lays fruitful foundations for further understanding the development and changing faces of Hong Kong films and sinophone transnationalism in the even more complex and changing times of today.

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9781474476362

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Reviews

"Tan offers a welcome and insightful survey of Hong Kong and Shanghai cinema from the 1930s to the 1980s, arguing for changing concepts of ""nation,"" ""China,"" and ""Chineseness."" [...] The book offers a thorough analysis of Sinophone culture and cinema through a nonessentialist lens, resulting in a model for transnational cinema studies, rejecting the ""nation"" as a model for organization. Recommended.--K. J. Wetmore Jr., Loyola Marymount University ""CHOICE"" Tan See Kam's seriously sensational lens highlights the long golden age of Hong Kong cinema before 1984 as a source of thrilling new possibilities; this dynamic core culture of the Chinese diaspora attracted viewers in their millions by shaking up the values and norms of not only the Chinese homeland but also Western modernity.-- ""Chris Berry, King's College London"" This very welcome addition to the scholarship on transnational Chinese cinema provides the needed depth and breadth to appreciate the expansive historical and geographic sweep of Chinese-language film with Hong Kong at its beating heart. Tan deftly moves from Shanghai roots through cross-dressing operatic romances, softcore court intrigues, James Bond-style spy stories, and swordplay actioners as they circulate through Hong Kong and throughout the Chinese diaspora. Culminating with Tsui Hark's New Wave Chinese-accented cosmopolitanism, this book highlights the continuing importance of Hong Kong at a cinematic crossroads that connects Asia to the rest of the world.-- ""Gina Marchetti, author of Citing China: Politics, Postmodernism, and World Cinema"""

Author Information

See Kam Tan, Associate Professor, University of Macau.

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