1st Edition

The Evolution of Chinese Popular Cinema Baokuan Film Phenomena under Nationalism, Globalization, and Active Audiences

By Xiao Yang Copyright 2026
240 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

240 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The Evolution of Chinese Popular Cinema provides insights into the Chinese film industry and popular cinema in the past two decades (with a major focus on the films produced since the mid-2010s). The book emphasizes on the film market in mainland China since the mid- 2010s and how it has been dramatically different from the previous decades, featuring big names like Zhang Yimou and Feng... Read more

List of figures

List of tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction: The baokuan phenomena in China

1 Chinese popular cinema amidst globalization’s instability

2 What is a baokuan film?

3 “Fan films” and “baokuan films”: Cultural policies, capital, and Chinese commercial filmmaking in the 2010s

4 “The rise of national animation”: Nezha (2019) and a Confucian boy-god

5 “The genesis of Chinese sci-fi films”: Crazy Alien (2019) and The Wandering Earth (2019)

6 Creating box office successes: Social media, new ways of film marketing, and active audiences

7 The power of word-of-mouth: Detective Chinatown 3 (2021) and Hi, Mom (2021)

8 Conclusion: Baokuan films in post-pandemic China

Bibliography

Appendix

Index

Biography

Xiao Yang is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Macau. Her research interests include Asian screen studies, the Chinese film industry, and the political economy of film, media, and communications. She has published in journals such as Television & New Media, The China Quarterly, Asian Studies Review, and Asian Cinema.