Chinese Movies and Movie Directors

Watching movies was a big and rare thing when I was a child. The villages did not have movie theatres. We probably watched movies 2-3 times a year. Days before the movie started, a big white screen would be hung between two trees, sometimes two high sticks. Words spread fast among the surrounding villages. All people talked about was the movie and who they would go see the movies with. At the day of the playing, schools were off early so kids could go home, eat an early dinner and head off to the movie. It was all like a holiday.


I don't remember any specific movie I saw back then, but I vividly remember the chaotic movie nights. People started to trickle in with stools and chairs long before sundown to find a good spot. Kids were running around, yelling out the lines they remembered from other movies. People greeted each other loudly, chatting and laughing together. When the darkness set in, every parent started calling their kids to come back to the seats. You can hear the mix of crying, screaming, scholding a mile away.


At that time, the movies were all the same: how CCP (Chinese Communist Party) soliders defeated either Janapnese or KMT (Kuomintang or Chinese National Party. led by Chiang Kai-shek) soliders. You pretty much expect the following lines in every movie: We CCP members are not afraid of death. Long live CCP. Long live communism. Communism must be achieved. We PLAs (People's Liberation Army) never takes a needle or a thread from the civilians. We PLAS treat POWs well. They sounded funny now, but at that time, I truly believed all KMT people were evils. I thought Chiang Kai-shek was the the biggest enemy of Chinese people.


There were six generations of movie directors. Most directors I know are the fifth and sixth. I will start introducing the directors and their movies one by one. To name a few directors: Zhang Yimou ( raise the red lantern/ house of flying daggers/hero/Curse of the golden flower. Zhang also directed the 2008 olypmic game opening and closing ceremony), Kai Wai Wong ( Chongqing Experess/2046/Times of Ashes/In the Mood for Love), Zhangke Jia (Xiao Wu/Still life/Unknown Pleasure), Ye Lou (Summer Palace/ Purple Butterfly/ Suzhou River), Kaige Chen (Farewell My Concubine/Together/The Promise) etc...