Volume 5, Issue 1

Against the backdrop of the difficult global film recovery, the Chinese film industry is in a period of profound adjustment. There is dual pressure from the insufficient supply of high-quality products and the inadequate film consumption demand, leading to a decline in many major industry and market indicators. Overall, the quality of film production has improved, with an increase in forms and genres. The imported film market has gradually picked up, and the accelerated loss of young audiences has become a characteristic of the year. Enhancing the “cinematic nature” (影院性, Yingyuanxing) of products and maintaining the “youthful vitality” (年轻态, Nianqingtai) of films are inevitable choices to prolong the adolescence of the industry.

The paradigm of mind-nature (心性) realism in Xie Jin’s films presents the trend of contemporary Chinese society evolving from chaos to order. While representing the social reality, it demonstrates the role of the wisdom of the Chinese-style mind-nature and reveals the tendency of the integration between the traditional Chinese theory of the mind and the spirit of realism. The debate on “Xie Jin’s Confucianism” has both insightful perspectives and blind spots, missing his efforts in constructing this film paradigm. As a pioneer, Xie Jin explored this paradigm, foreshadowing its later creative path and setting an early example.

The concepts of “balance” (中, Zhong) and “harmony” (和, He) represent the aesthetic pursuits of Chinese art for millennia and continue to shape the aspirations of many filmmakers. Within modern and contemporary film literature, the aesthetics of “balanced harmony” (中和, Zhonghe) have been extensively discussed in areas such as narrative structure, audiovisual language, performance theory, and film criticism, with these ideas deeply embedded in the classic texts of Chinese cinema. Both “balance” and “harmony” possess distinct theoretical origins and aesthetic connotations while sharing philosophical connections. As central aesthetic categories rooted in Chinese rites and music traditions, they have accompanied Chinese cinematic practices for over a century, serving as vital theoretical resources for constructing indigenous film aesthetics.

The history of Chinese cinema includes a marginalized category of small-town films which features “lyricism”: exploring the essence and aesthetic forms of cinematographic art, such films have achieved remarkable aesthetic accomplishments. When tracing the lyrical trajectory of Chinese film history, we find that, on one hand, realistic films pursue lyricism within dramatic narratives, thereby yielding poetic films with intense or overt lyrical nuances. On the other hand, we find that a group of filmmakers, dedicated to excavating and advancing cinematic aesthetics, have attempted to break new ground in film themes and cinematographic language, thus giving birth to genuinely lyrical films that embody cinematic poetry. A plethora of small-town films form an essential part of the lyric aesthetics of Chinese cinema. Three canonical examples –  Spring in a Small Town , February in Early Spring , and Border Town – allow us to discern that the ontological core of this aesthetic lies in their lyrical subjectivity. The lyric subjects express their aspirations through their works, and unreservedly showcase their personal life experiences, artistic visions, and aesthetic ideals in the creative process. The formal aspect of lyrical aesthetics refers to the rhetorical methods employed by film subjects when engaging in lyricism. From the transitive rhetoric to detransitive rhetoric, the lyric subjects lead the audience into the material world – presented as the object of lyricism – while simultaneously creating a poetic realm that transcends the material world.

Since the 21st century, a new wave of young directors has merged, successively crafting cinematic narratives deeply rooted in the backdrop of the state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform in the 1990s. These films, collectively known as “factory zone” films, have carved out a unique niche within Chinese film, distinguished by their vivid portrayal of factory spaces as both narrative settings and significant mediums for visual storytelling. The young director’ reconstruction of the 1990s factory imagery, their use of ruins as a visual motif, and their focus on individual fates have formed striking visual characteristics, which are distinctly different from those of their predecessors, highlighting the evolving perspectives of this new generation of filmmakers.

As a representative of China’s up-and-coming directors, Rao Xiaozhi’s films are characterized by theatrical narratives, genre strategies, and a sense of “community.” He has found his career path within the development trends of the Chinese film industry, while also opening up new creative field. At the same time, he embodies the opportunities and responsibilities for the up-and-coming directors within the New Main Melody. This article focuses on Rao Xiaozhi’s creative path and cinematic texts, exploring the dramatic features, modernist imagery, genre fate, and the transformation of New Main Melody creation in his works, to discuss the relevance of his cinematic creations to contemporary times.

Since 2014, a typical phenomenon emerged and still survives in the film creations of new directors: return to the homeland. This is emphatically reflected in various aspects such as the spatial production and modes of expression as modernity. Firstly, new directors use memory and landscape to imagine and create their homeland in mainly four forms: “temporal rhetoric,” “childhood perspective,” “humorous atmosphere,” and “sense of surrealism,” endowing their films with a unique character. Secondly, as a creative method, it has a strong influence on the film production of new directors. Thirdly, new directors use their homeland to construct a “spatial system” and “spirit of place,” as a way of completing the reflective expression of “personal history” and “social history.”

The interview with Huo Tingxiao explores his artistic journey and contributions to Chinese cinema, particularly in integrating traditional Eastern aesthetics into modern film production. Huo discusses his early education in painting, his transition to film art design, and his experiences working on notable films such as Hero , House of Flying Daggers , and Curse of the Golden Flower . He emphasizes the significance of traditional Chinese philosophical and artistic concepts, in shaping cinematic visuals. His work reflects a deep engagement with Chinese cultural heritage, employing elements like calligraphy, chess, and landscape painting techniques to enhance storytelling. Embracing technology, Huo acknowledges AI’s role in accelerating concept design but stresses that human creativity and cultural depth remain irreplaceable. He urges young filmmakers to master traditional arts, enhance interdisciplinary communication, and innovate while honoring heritage.

The creation of the dance drama film A Tapestry of a Legendary Land (zhici qinglv, 2024) was inspired by the painting Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains (qianli jiangshangtu). Combining artistic expression means such as dance and film, it promotes the beauty of Chinese culture. Based on the aesthetics in the Huizong period of the Northern Song Dynasty, the film renders the main color tone of “green and blue,” creating a new realm for the modern presentation of the aesthetics of the Song Dynasty on the screen. The film also makes a vivid and elaborate display of splendid chapters like “painting study” and “listening to the rain” with the help of Cai Jing’s postscript and the lifestyle preference of ancient scholars for “listening to the rain,” conveying the concept of the symbiosis of Tian, Di, Ren (heaven, earth and humanity) contained in Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains .

Upstream (Nixing Rensheng, 2024) is the first film to shine a light on China’s food delivery riders, the largest marginalized group in the country. It continues the realist tradition of Chinese cinema by illuminating this overlooked group with the searchlight of cinematic language, presenting them to the world and holding significant value. However, the film fails to meet the higher expectancy of the audience, that is, to dissect the deeper reasons behind the delivery riders being controlled by algorithms, exploited by platforms, and constantly facing dangers, like a scalpel. Although the film portrays a collective image of delivery riders, they merely serve as the backdrop to the “upstream” of the urban elite, Gao Zhilei. This results in an insufficient reflection on and critique of reality, ultimately creating a huge gap between its value and the audience’s expectancy.