Co‐Opting the Wolves: National Film Industry Reform in China After 1978

This article is about the relationship between the film industry, society, and the state, in the context of economic reforms. I first provide an overview of current writings on the field and then explain the film industry's structure since 1949. I also examine policy changes over the past 30 years. What exactly did the state change? And why did it change? By way of analyzing Chinese cinema, this article examines the relationship between the market, the state, society, and transnational capital. Although the government has increasingly been in favor of a market economy, it has never given up its official ideology over films. Moreover, the domestic film industry did not collapse after the entry of transnational capital; instead, the state successfully co‐opted the “wolves” not only to save the film industry but also to enable the state to accumulate both economic and political capital.