Journal

Journal of Chinese Film Studies

Editors-in-Chief: Haizhou Wang and Haina Jin

Language: English

First published: May 20, 2021

Publication Frequency: 3 issues per year

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About this journal

Objectives

Journal of Chinese Film Studies (JCFS) is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal which focuses on the history, theory, criticism, practice and industries of Chinese film and provides a platform for cutting-edge academic research and debate. It is committed to advancing interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis of Chinese films and cinematic practices across multiple genres and platforms.

The journal is open to all areas of scholarship in Chinese film studies. We welcome academic work from multiple critical, cultural, and theoretical perspectives.

The journal seeks original research articles that pursue innovative research directions and methodologies or engage with significant historiographical or interpretive issues of films from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Chinese diaspora. The journal also welcomes reviews of books and films of significance to the focus of the journal, as well as interviews with filmmakers and film scholars. It will showcase research both from established scholars and emerging new voices of Chinese film studies. Authors who have had their articles accepted are encouraged to submit video abstracts.

Our journal offers:

Cutting edge research results in Chinese film studies
Interdisciplinary approach and emphasis
Comprehensive outlook on Chinese films and cinematic practices
Latest developments of Chinese film industries
Direct and close contact with Chinese filmmakers and researchers
English translations of high-impact research in non-English languages
Inclusive and positive scholarly environment
Conversations and collaborations between researchers and professionals inside and outside of China

JCFS publishes articles in the following categories:

• articles of original research
• editorial
• book review
• film review
• interview

Submission can include, but are not limited to the following fields:

Chinese film history
Chinese film industries
Auteurs in Chinese cinemas
Stardom in Chinese cinemas
Film genres of Chinese cinemas
Chinese cinematic practices
Chinese cinemas, culture, and society
Reception of Chinese cinemas
Multilingualism in Chinese cinemas
Gender/class/sexuality in Chinese cinemas
Chinese films on ethnic minorities
Transnational Chinese cinemas

Themed issues and sections

Chinese Science Fiction Cinema (2024)
Women, City and Early Chinese Cinema (2023)
Film Accessibility for Blind and Low Vision Viewers in China (2023)
The Centenary of Labourer’s Love (2022)

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Local Culture and National Identity: The Conflict and Convergence of Mandarin Films and Cantonese Films in Nanyang in the 1930s

October 8, 2025

Yanfang Pang

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In the 1930s, after the emergence of sound films, Chinese films were divided into two production directions: Mandarin films and Cantonese films. As an important distribution market for Chinese films, Nanyang has become a competitive place for these two types of films. During this politically unsettled decade in China, even in Nanyang, far from China’s political center, the competition between Mandarin films and Cantonese films implied the conflicts between local culture and national identity, as well as between mass entertainment and elite discourse. However, under the principle of the supremacy of national interests, Mandarin films and Cantonese films would jointly build, within the framework of “Chinese films,” a nation-state concept far above local identity for overseas Chinese in Nanyang.
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Desta Kyi and the Question of Collective Emotional Labour: Who Sustains Visibility in Chinese Film Festival

October 8, 2025

Wen Gu

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This paper examines Tibetan female filmmaker Desta Kyi’s navigation of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festivals to show how emotional and affective labour function as essential strategies for marginalized filmmakers to secure visibility within Han-centric, male-dominated Chinese film industries. Drawing on affect theory and post-authorship frameworks, the study distinguishes macro-level affective labour – the circulation of feeling and “buzz” across festival networks – from micro-level emotional labour – the embodied regulation of affect in interpersonal interactions. Using a semi-autobiographical ethnography (2021–2025) combining interviews, participant observation, and reflexive co-production, the analysis centers on Kyi’s relational work with key supporters (Andy Lau, Jiaran Wang, Dan Wang) and the author’s role as co-producer. Findings demonstrate that visibility, access, and cultural legitimacy are produced not only through artistic output but through sustained, gendered, and often invisible emotional investments that operate as relational capital. The case reveals emotional labour as both vulnerability and strategic agency, reframing festivals as affective infrastructures where power is reproduced and contested. By foregrounding gendered and ethnic dimensions of labour, this paper extends post-authorship debates in the Chinese context and suggests new directions for understanding how marginalized filmmakers assert presence beyond authorship alone.
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The Extension of Roaming: Spatial Concepts and the Theory of Roaming Through the Lens in Chinese Cinema

October 8, 2025

Ming Ding

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Lin Nien Tung (Lin Niantong) applies the concept of “roaming” (You) to Chinese cinema, proposing a fluid spatial consciousness and compositional order known as “roaming through the lens” (Jing You). Using roaming as a method to comprehensively examine Chinese cinema, it becomes evident that roaming is closely connected with perception, texture, and aesthetics of cinematic space, reflecting the underlying national temperament of Chinese aesthetic mentality. This paper attempts to summarize the spatial model, spatial ontology, and spatial experience of Chinese cinema; explores forms, dimensions and perceptions of roaming; aims to construct an integrated cinematic spatial conception with roaming at its core. The theory of roaming through the lens influences Chinese film creation, also offers a pathway for understanding the nationalization of cinema.
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Realistic Mirror, Public Discourse, and Temporal Markers: Chinese Cinema in 2024

October 7, 2025

Yaping Ding, Ting Wang

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Chinese films in 2024 exhibit diverse narrative paths and rich forms of expression. Comedy films confront social issues with irony and absurdity, while films with realistic themes depict the emotions of the times through individual narratives. Narratives with female perspective explore the possibilities of gender expression from multiple perspectives, while historical themes inject a sense of depth into images through the deep exploration of memory and emotions. Genre films continue the industrialization path and strengthen narrative tension with mature audio-visual language. Literary films strive to expand the intellectual space through boundary exploration. As a cultural practice, Chinese films attempt to open up new narrative boundaries, inject more dimensions of thinking into complex reality, and present profound cultural values.
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A Study of the Early Film Exhibition Industry in Dalian Under Colonial Rule (1906–1931)

September 25, 2025

Jing Zhou, Miao Fu

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With the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth between Japan and Russia in 1905, Japan began its 40-year colonial rule over Dalian. Film exhibition activities in Dalian subsequently showed up distinct colonial characteristics. This paper examines the film exhibition industry in Dalian around 1920, dividing this period into two distinct phases. Through the collection, organization, and analysis of extensive historical newspapers and archival materials, it aims to return to the historical context and restore historical truth. The early development of film exhibition in Dalian serves as a microcosm of the cultural colonial history of Northeast China during the same period, reflecting the arduous trajectory experienced by Dalian and the broader Northeast region under colonial occupation.
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2024 Analysis Report on Chinese Film Industry Development

September 22, 2025

Hanwen Liu

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The year 2024 marks a period of consolidation and transformation for the Chinese film industry. Throughout the year, film authorities at all levels have implemented various measures to promote the prosperity of Chinese cinema and stimulate film consumption. Ongoing efforts have been made to explore regionalized, tiered, and multi-round distribution models, while “differentiated screenings” have enabled more films to precisely reach their target audiences. At the same time, the industry faces challenges such as an insufficient supply of high-quality films, uneven market performance, and a declining number of moviegoers. In the future, we must place greater emphasis on respecting the artistic, industrial, and managerial principles of filmmaking, accelerate the restructuring of the film industry chain, and solidly promote high-quality development. We will strive to convert all positive advantages into tangible outcomes.
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New Explorations in War Film Creation: Reflections on T he Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death

September 18, 2025

Zhifeng Hu

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The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death centers on the Battle of Cheorwon, a pivotal episode in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950–1953). This battle highlights the strategic wisdom and unwavering courage of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army. Through an innovative “thread-and-ring narrative structure”, the film weaves together multiple standalone stories into a cohesive whole, constructing richly layered character images. Its meticulous attention to detail and nuanced emotional expression endows the film with profound emotional resonance, which in turn pioneers a new direction for the war film genre. It further manifests a strong sense of historical responsibility and cultural confidence, and offers fresh perspectives for the creation of contemporary war films.
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Chinese Civilizational Symbols and the Artistic Practice of Chinese Western Films

September 11, 2025

Ali Zhang

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Emerging from Xi’an, Shaanxi – a cradle of Chinese civilization – Chinese western films serve as a unique cultural vessel for the Chinese nation. Through their geo-spatial narratives, remediation of cultural memory, and symbolization of national ethos, they actively codify the cinematic semiotics system for Chinese civilizational symbols. Over four decades of evolution, Chinese western films have persistently explored and presented Chinese culture, gradually crystallizing into an artistic methodology that bridges tradition and modernity, the regional and the national. Chinese civilizational symbols in Chinese western films not only directly shape the ideological positioning of the films and converge the semiotic signifiers of cinematic imagery but also constitute distinctive stylistic markers of the genre. Their implementation in cinematic practice facilitates the formation of a unique representation of Chinese film culture. In the cultural journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the New Era, the reexploration, presentation, interpretation, and dissemination of Chinese civilizational symbols by Chinese western films have important practical value and far-reaching significance for shaping national cultural identity.
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Chinese Mythology and the Reconstruction of Contemporary Chinese Film Aesthetics

September 10, 2025

Linxia Chen

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Contemporary Chinese films, which tell mythological stories and presenting audio-visual wonders by means of film and television technology, have been fully recognized by the market. However, the context of storytelling has been too capitalized, resulting in the intervention of capital from the consumer terminal in the production of content, which has led to the secularization of the values of the mythological stories told, and even the tendency of deformed egoism. Chinese films should not only satisfy market consumption but also spread and inherit the cultural consciousness and collective memory of the myths. Therefore, Chinese films should break through the narrative mode and power aesthetics of Western films, construct a two-stage structure with a clear, cyclical and recurrent structure, give full play to its imagination, break through the boundaries of modern rationality, and then shape its own cultural identity, art form, and aesthetic style on a global scale.
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Chinese Dubbed Film Fans and “Iconic Voices”: Bridging Global and Local Identities Through Voice Actors, 1950s–1980s

September 9, 2025

Baicheng Zhu

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From the 1950s to the 1980s, dubbed film opened up a unique way for transnational cinema to spread in China through “Iconic Voices.” In the process of adapting the language, voice actors reinterpreted the cultural essence of foreign films for Chinese audiences with their precise grasp of the inner workings of the characters and their deep commitment. In this state of hidden visual images, film fans deeply rely on the voices behind the scenes, and their love and following of these “Iconic Voices” not only become their spiritual support in their daily lives, but also an important part of their cultural nostalgia. I contend that the artistry of dubbed film not only facilitated the dissemination of foreign film culture but also redefined cross-cultural engagement and auditory identity formation by evoking deep emotional connections and inspiring the idolization of voice actors among Chinese audiences.
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Unveiling Wan Hoi-Ling: The Diasporic Journey of a Woman Filmmaker

September 4, 2025

Qian Du

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As the first woman director in Malaya, Wan Hoi-Ling was overlooked by film history for a long time. Through detailed archival research, this article assembles historical fragments from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore to illustrate Wan Hoi-Ling’s transnational filmmaking career. The study not only reveals Wan Hoi-Ling’s diasporic experience during World War II but also reflects on the reasons for Wan Hoi-Ling’s omission from film history. As a pioneering woman in transnational and cross-cultural film production, she was usually mentioned only as an assistant and was not credited for her versatile talents in various filmmaking roles. The films she created were often dismissed as “shoddy” and “inappropriate.” However, they can be acknowledged as a form of “multicultural hybrid cinema of poverty,” drawing from her transnational diasporic filmmaking experience within the broader context of transnational film history.
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Corrigendum to: 48 articles published in JCFS from Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2021) – Vol. 4, Issue 1 (2024)

September 4, 2025

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Asian American Exportation: “Chineseness” and Representation in Sino-US Animated Co-Venture Films

September 4, 2025

Benjamin Ruilin Fong

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This article finds that a subset of animated films produced in mainland China are interpreted as Chinese, diasporic Chinese, and Asian American films. It explores how Sino-US animated co-venture films are produced in mainland China for domestic and international consumption. This builds upon scholarship on Chinese film and Sino-US co-productions in three ways. First, it explores an emerging strategy that uses co-ventures, defined as mainland registered companies that are oftentimes 51 % mainland owned and 49 % foreign owned, to produce animated films. The Sino-US animated films studied in this article include White Snake (2019), Over the Moon (2020), and Wish Dragon (2021). Each film offers a unique approach that is shaped by narrative, aesthetics, and distribution. Second, I explore the tension between the construction of “Chineseness” by Sino-US co-venture animated films and the “Chineseness” theorized in Asian American Studies. Third, a close reading of these films highlights differing representations of “Chineseness” rooted in Chinese and diasporic Chinese identities. I find that China’s fashioning of “Chineseness” for both domestic and international audiences has coincided with an increase in Asian American representation in Hollywood. By examining Sino-US animated co-venture films, this article studies the evolving dynamics of transborder flows in Chinese cinemas and their impact on representation.
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Song of Spring: The Manifestation of Love and the Metaphor of Illness

May 16, 2024

Haizhou Wang, Lin Zhang

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The film Song of Spring creatively portray a pair of mother and daughter who are distinct but twinned and complementary, with a focus on traditional Chinese family ethics. The intertextuality between the two characters not only enriches their images but also enhances the ambiguity of the film. Additionally, the film utilizes the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease as a metaphor and employs the love between the mother and daughter as a “medicine” to bridge the gap between them. Through this depiction of the disease, the film also provides a glimpse into the collective memory of the Chinese nation.

Issue 0

Issue 1

Issue 3

Thematic Issue: Games and Gaming in Chinese and Sinophone Cinema; Guest Editors: Li Guo, Douglas Eyman and Hongmei Sun

Issue 2

Special Issue: Chinese Science Fiction Cinema; Guest Editor: Carlos Rojas

Journal of Chinese Film Studies publishes special and thematic issues focussed on important and emerging topics in the field of study. The journal has established a rigorous process to ensure that any special issue manuscripts follow the same high-quality standards and peer review processes as regular manuscripts. For further information on the journal’s peer review policy please see the "Instructions for Authors".

Recent Special Issues

CiteScore	0.5	2024, Scopus (Elsevier B.V., 2025)
SCImago Journal Rank	0.128	2024, SJR (Scimago Lab, 2025; Data Source: Scopus)
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.249	2024, CWTS Journal Indicators (CWTS B.V., 2025; Data Source: Scopus)

More information about journal rankings

SUBMISSION

You can easily submit your manuscript online. Simply go to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcfs and you will be guided through the whole submission and publishing process.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

We have implemented new submission guidelines. A brief overview is given in Instructions for Authors. The Template for Ethical and Legal Declarations needs to be customized/filled out by the submitting author on behalf of all other authors and uploaded as separate files at the time of the original submission.

Your benefits of publishing with us

Accepted articles are published online ahead of print approx. 4 weeks after acceptance
Accepted papers will be published online first as DOI-citable, forward-linked articles for quickest possible visibility for the scientific community
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SUBMISSION PROCESS

Double-blind peer review process
Accepted articles are published online ahead of print approx. 4 weeks after acceptance

Please note

Manuscripts must be written in clear and concise English
Before submitting your article please have a look at our copyright agreement
Once your article is accepted you have the option to publish it open access
If you have any general questions please visit our FAQ page for authors
For more detailed information please contact the JCFS Editorial Office (jcfs@degruyter.com).

We look forward to receiving your manuscript!

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Wang Haizhou, Beijing Film Academy
Jin Haina, Communication University of China

EDITORIAL BOARD

Hsiu-chuang Deppman, Oberlin College
Vanessa Frangville, Université libre de Bruxelles
Ping Fu, Towson University
Xuelei Huang, University of Edinburgh
Sangjoon Lee, Lingnan University
Guo Li, Utah State University
Jie Li, Harvard University
Seio Nakajima, Waseda University
Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, University of Hong Kong
Gary Rawnsley, University of Lincoln
Carlos Rojas, Duke University
Josh Stenberg, University of Sydney
Zhang Xiaochun, University College London
Sugawara Yoshino, Kansai University

ADVISORY BOARD

Chris Berry, King's College London
Gary Bettinson, Lancaster University
Paul Clark, University of Auckland
David Desser, University of Illinois
Ding Yaping, Chinese National Academy of Arts
Tom Gunning, University of Chicago
Yan Haiping, Tsinghua University
Margaret Hillenbrand, University of Oxford
Stefan Kramer, Universität zu Köln
Li Daoxin, Peking University
Paul Pickowicz, University of California
Liu Shusen, Peking University/Yunnan University
Keyan Tomaselli, University of Johannesburg
Ban Wang, Stanford University
Hu Zhifeng, Beijing Normal University

All correspondence concerning editorial matters, manuscripts, or proposals for special issues should be sent to the editorial office(jcfs@degruyter.com).

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Journal information

Additional information

eISSN:

2702-2285

ISSN:

2702-2277

Language:

English

Publisher:

De Gruyter

Additional information

First published:

May 20, 2021

Publication Frequency:

3 issues per year

eISSN: 2702-2285

ISSN: 2702-2277

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Journal of Chinese Film Studies

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