Film and Social Change: The Chinese Cinema in the Reform Era

Abstract In this article we examine changes in China's film industry within the context of social changes taking place in the country as a result of its dramatic reforms since 1978. China makes an interesting case to examine the relationship between the society and media because its social changes brought about by the reforms are not only dramatic in scale but also fundamental in nature. At the landmark meeting of the Third Plenum of the eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1978, CPC renounced its former practice of holding class struggle as its supreme policy and decided to shift its focus to economic development (Lee). Then in 1982, a further step was taken toward a market economy when the twelfth CPC National Congress decided to let the market play a major role in adjusting the national economy. Additional informationNotes on contributorsChen Yanru HAO XIAOMING is an associate professor in the School of Communication Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. CHEN YANRU is a media consultant at Xiamen University in the People's Republic of China.