Western China on Screen

Hongyan Zou is a lecturer at the Foreign Language School of Sichuan University, China. She is the co-author of the book Chapter “Chinese films and the sense of place: Beijing as ‘Thirdspace’ from In the Heat of the Sun to Mr. Six” in the edited book Making Publics, Making Places (University of Adelaide Press, 2016). Her research focuses on the dynamic relationship between cinema and cities, Chinese urban cinema, Chinese minority films and Chinese Westerns.

• Chapter One: Introduction: Cinematic western China: the under-represented cinematic citiesChinese Western cinemaChinese cities and cinema: an imbalanced representationOrganisation of the bookChapter Two: Cinematic Chongqing: History, Cityscape and Spatial StratificationChongqing in films: a brief accountThe stratification of high and low spacesChapter Three: National Projects and Disappearing Spaces: the Mundane Daily Practices MatterRainclouds over Wushan—lived space mattersStill Life—expectation becomes stillness from Wushan to FengjieChapter Four: Cinematic Chengdu: Erasing Socialist Utopia through Political ReorientationChengdu in films24 City: making way for a modern spaceChapter Five: Natural disaster and trauma: dysfunctional families in urban spaceBuddha Mountain: nature, a railway station and religious redemptionChapter Six: Cinematic Xi’an: from an enclosed traditional space to a sprawling urban spaceXi’an and adjacent area on screenBack to Back, Face to Face: the flâneur walking in an enclosed spaceChapter Seven: Female space and bodies as the medium of social representationsThe Story of Ermei: female’s social status in rural and urban spacesWeaving Girl: state-owned enterprise and the female workerChapter Eight: Cinematic Lanzhou: the rural victim of urban manipulative dominationThe cinematic city as an absent presenceA Fool, the rural victim of urban manipulative dominationChapter Nine: ConclusionBibliographyFilmography

Hongyan Zou’s skilful analysis rewrites the Chinese West and the Chinese Western genre we thought we knew as dry and dusty pioneer lands in 1980s films like Yellow Earth. Her lively writing reveals a regional cinema of many genres depicting historic cities with distinct identities and rich cultures undergoing explosive growth and ultra-rapid modernisation.