DOCSLIB.ORG

Screening Love: the Cinematic Representation of the Cultural

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Screening Love: the Cinematic Representation of the Cultural Screening Love: The Cinematic Representation of the Cultural Revolution, 1980s to Early 1990s Jingyi Lu Faculty Advisor: Guo-juin Hong Asian and Middle Eastern Studies May 2017 This project was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program in the Graduate School of Duke University. Copyright by Jingyi Lu May 2016 LU III Abstract The ten-year Cultural Revolution exerts a tremendous influence on the domain of cultural production in contemporary China. After the Cultural Revolution, many filmmakers delved into the representation of this traumatic historical period and produced relevant films in the 1980s – 1990s. In these films, the motif of love is frequently employed to embody the impact of the Cultural Revolution on interpersonal relationships. What types of love relations do these films represent? How do the modes of love change over time? How do these films represent the Cultural Revolution and identify the root causes of this disastrous time? In this essay, to answer the above questions, I will explore the changing representation of love relations in the films about the Cultural Revolution: the scar films (also called post-socialist films) that prevailed in the 1980s feature romantic love, while The Blue Kite, Farewell, My Concubine and To Live directed by the fifth-generation filmmakers in the early 1990s mainly display family love. By looking into the cinematic interpretation of the Cultural Revolution, I will gain insight into the social and cultural environment in that two decades, and show that the films produced in these two different periods seek greater authenticity in representing that historical period and gradually break away from state ideology and propaganda. Keywords The Cultural Revolution, Romantic Love, Family Love, Post-socialist, The Fifth Generation, Cinematic Representation, state ideology LU IV Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. III List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... V Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................ VI Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Romantic Love in Scar Films of the 1980s ....................................................... 16 Chapter 2: Family Love in the Fifth-Generation Films of the Early 1990s ........................ 33 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 51 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 55 Filmography ...................................................................................................................... 59 LU V List of Figures Fig. 1 On a rainy day, Hu Yuyin and Qin Shutian are being sentenced; p. 24 Fig. 2 Geng Hua and Zhou Yun are dating on Lushan Mountain; p. 29 Fig. 3 The shadow puppets are played in the gambling house and in collective labor; Fugui put the new-born chickens in the box which was used to contain the shadow puppets; p. 46 Fig. 4 Tietou flies the blue kite with his family members and sees the broken kite at the end of the film; p. 48 LU VI Acknowledgement I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my advisor Professor Guo-Juin Hong for his patient guidance in my completion of my master’s project. He provides me with great encouragement and valuable advice in the whole process. Without his generous help, this project would not have been completed. I am also indebted to other members of my master’s project committee, Professor Kent Wicker and Professor Donna Zapf, for their constructive suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for financially and emotionally supporting my studies and urging me to do my utmost in my academic development. LU 1 Introduction As history is frequently portrayed in both fictional and documentary films, many scholars begin to pay attention to the relation between cinema and history. Although cinema could not visualize the original historical scenes and moments, to some degree it allows written historical records to take on a concrete form. Through a set of arrangements, it entails expressivity in performance. As the French historian Marc Ferro considers, “film acts as a historical agent,” in that the invention of cinema came on the historical stage as a scientific breakthrough and cinema as an art could process and inculcate history (14). In reconstructing a certain historical period, historical films essentially aim to convey a certain ideology by mystifying the filmic images (Barthes 377–379). In addition, the historicity of historical films is not only embodied in their content but also in the particular time when they were produced. On this point, another scholar, Pierre Sorlin, thinks that, instead of merely representing the past, the historical films are intended to express certain ideas about the present when they process the past (71). Therefore, to analyze historical films, plots, the time of the production of films, the modes and codes of filmic narratives, should all be taken into consideration. Focusing on the relation between cinema and history, I aim to establish a connection between modern Chinese cinema and history in this project. I am particularly interested in the films which represent the Cultural Revolution, especially in the two decades after it (hereafter called Post-Cultural Revolution films). My interest in this field, first of all, arises from the LU 2 specificity of the history of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It is distinguished from any historical traumas before it because it represents a nationwide violence on both the bodies and minds of numerous people and the betrayal of Chinese traditions and ethnics (M. Berry 5). The Cultural Revolution, an era characterized by collective hysteria, crazy worship of Chairman Mao and blind negation of the “old,” is in nature a “cultural holocaust” (Lu 67). Moreover, social chaos, mass mortality, and economic loss during that period determine the significant role of the Cultural Revolution in modern Chinese history. This time connects the era of socialist and nationalist transformation and the era of economic construction and causes long-term sequela to China today. Therefore, a profound reflection on the Cultural Revolution is paramount to a thorough understanding of China today (L. Li 1). When the Cultural Revolution came to an end, a profusion of artistic representations sprung up, and most of them are adapted from memoirs and historical data. These representations embody both the collective memory of the past and the collective mentality among Chinese people of rethinking that time (L. Li 2–3). Since the film industry revived in the early 1980s, numerous films have been produced to reflect on the Cultural Revolution and contribute greatly to shaping people’s understandings of this period. The production of these films over time indicates the huge and lasting impact of the Cultural Revolution on the contemporary Chinese society and culture and represents a significant part in the development of the Chinese cinema. Substantial scholarship has been conducted on the history of the Chinese cinema after LU 3 the Cultural Revolution from different perspectives. As for the films regarding the Cultural Revolution, there is a distinction between the relevant films produced in the 1980s which are called “scar films” and the films produced by the fifth-generation filmmakers in the early 1990s. The exemplary and most studied works in the 1980s are the trilogy directed by Xie Jin Legend of Tianyun Mountain (1980), The Herdsman (1982) and Hibiscus Town (1986). Some scholars contend that Xie Jin’s films oppose the state ideology and expose the dark sides of the Communist Party, but endorse traditional Chinese culture and Confucian thoughts, which the new generation film began to question from the mid-1980s (Semsel, Chen, and Xia 29–30). However, Paul Clark points out from the perspective of the purpose of filmmaking that Xie Jin’s films, including his scar films, are always adapted to the changing political environment and respond to the advocacy of the Communist Party. Xie Jin’s melodramas in the 1980s about the Cultural Revolution do not truly reflect on the trauma in the past decade, but engage the audience in moral and political indoctrination. Clark then observes a shift in Chinese cinema as the fifth-generation filmmakers rose in the mid-1980s and contends that their films no longer serve the ideological purposes and instead offer an allegorical interpretation of the reality (87– 98). Clark mainly centers on the accomplishments of the fifth-generation filmmakers in the 1980s, but he also admits that they did not stop making artistic advances in the 1990s even though the political events of 1989 thwarted film creation again (212). With China’s opening up, these filmmakers more boldly deal with the problems of the Communist party and use allegorical devices to represent the social or historical reality in an ambiguous way to eschew LU 4 the censorship (Creekmur and Sidel 178). The critic Wang Ban demonstrates the improvement in the narrative strategies of the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Cinema, New Media, and Higher Education
    Educational Perspectives Journal of the College of Education/University of Hawai‘i at Ma¯noa CONTENTS Dean Christine Sorensen 2 Contributors Editor Hunter McEwan 3 Cinema, New Media, and Higher Education Managing Editor Lori Ward Guest Editor Konrad Ng Konrad Ng and Hunter McEwan Graphic Designer Darrell Asato 5 Film Form and Pedagogy: Beyond Perception College of Education Editorial Board Michael J. Shapiro Linda Johnsrud, Professor Kathryn Au, Professor Emeritus 10 Asian Cinema and the Social Imaginary Curtis Ho, Professor Wimal Dissanayake Mary Jo Noonan, Professor Robert Potter, Professor Emeritus 15 Apparatus, Genre, and Spectatorship in the Classroom COEDSA President Glenn Man The Journal and the College of Education assume no responsibility 24 Made in Hawai‘i: Critical Studies and the Academy for the opinion or facts in signed articles, except to the for Creative Media extent of expressing the view, by the fact of publication, that the subject matter is one which merits attention. Konrad Ng Published twice each year by the College of Education, 29 Engaging a “Truly Foreign” Language and Culture: University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa China through Chinese film Individual copies $25.00 To purchase single copies of this issue contact Cynthia Ning Marketing and Publication Services, Curriculum & Research Development Group 36 Thinking Images: Doing Philosophy in Film and Video Phone: 800-799-8111 (toll-free), 808-956-4969 Graham Parkes Fax: 808-956-6730 Email: [email protected] 47 Coffy, YouTube, and Uncle Ben: The Use of Film and New Address all communications regarding single copies, Media in the Teaching of African American Studies at subscriptions, manuscripts, and correspondence the University of Hawai‘i about editorial material to Editor, Elisa Joy White Educational Perspectives, College of Education, University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa, Wist Hall 54 Digital Storytelling in Teacher Education: Creating Room 113, 1776 University Avenue, Transformations through Narrative Honolulu, HI 96822 James R.
    [Show full text]
  • Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education Vol.12 No. 7 (2021), 2845-2852 Research Article Undermining Colonial Space in Cinematic Discourse
    Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education Vol.12 No. 7 (2021), 2845-2852 Research Article Undermining Colonial Space In Cinematic Discourse Dr. Ammar Ibrahim Mohammed Al-Yasri Television Arts specialization Ministry of Education / General Directorate of Holy Karbala Education [email protected] Article History: Received: 11 January 2021; Revised: 12 February 2021; Accepted: 27 March 2021; Published online: 16 April 2021 Abstract: There is no doubt that artistic races are the fertile factor in philosophy in all of its perceptions, so cinematic discourse witnessed from its early beginnings a relationship to philosophical thought in all of its proposals, and post-colonial philosophy used cinematic discourse as a weapon that undermined (colonial) discourse, for example cinema (Novo) ) And black cinema, Therefore, the title of the research came from the above introduction under the title (undermining the colonial space in cinematic discourse) and from it the researcher put the problem of his research tagged (What are the methods for undermining the colonial space in cinematic discourse?) And also the first chapter included the research goal and its importance and limitations, while the second chapter witnessed the theoretical framework It included two topics, the first was under the title (post-colonialism .. the conflict of the center and the margin) and the second was under the title (post-colonialism between cinematic types and aspects of the visual form) and the chapter concludes with a set of indicators, while the third chapter included research procedures, methodology, society, sample and analysis of samples, While the fourth chapter included the results and conclusions, and from the results obtained, the research sample witnessed the use of undermining the (colonial) act, which was embodied in the face of violence with violence and violence with culture, to end the research with the sources.
    [Show full text]
  • New York / New York Film Festival, September 23 - October 9, 1994]
    Document generated on 09/29/2021 7:21 p.m. ETC New York New York Film Festival, September 23 - October 9, 1994 Steven Kaplan La critique d’art : enjeux actuels 1 Number 29, February–May 1995 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/35725ac See table of contents Publisher(s) Revue d'art contemporain ETC inc. ISSN 0835-7641 (print) 1923-3205 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this review Kaplan, S. (1995). Review of [New York / New York Film Festival, September 23 - October 9, 1994]. ETC, (29), 23–27. Tous droits réservés © Revue d'art contemporain ETC inc., 1995 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ nm/AiMiiEi NEW YORK New York Film Festival, September 23 - October 9,1994 ike the universe at large, film festivals often find the invidious structure of white overseer (coach, recruiter) it reassuring to start up with a big bang. The recent feeding off the talents and aspirations of a black underclass. 32nd edition of the New York Film Festival opened As Arthur Agee and William Gates progress from the with the explosive Pulp Fiction, fresh from its hood to a lily white suburban Catholic school (a basketball success at Cannes, continuing the virtual powerhouse which graduated Isiah Thomas) and hence to Ldeification of writer-director Quentin Tarantino among college, we are aware of the sacrifices they and their the hip media establishment, and poising him for entry families make, the difficulties of growing up black and into a wider marketplace.
    [Show full text]
  • New China's Forgotten Cinema, 1949–1966
    NEW CHINA’S FORGOTTEN CINEMA, 1949–1966 More Than Just Politics by Greg Lewis Several years ago when planning a course on modern Chinese history as seen through its cinema, I realized or saw a significant void. I hoped to represent each era of Chinese cinema from the Leftist movement of the 1930s to the present “Sixth Generation,” but found most available subtitled films are from the post-1978 reform period. Films from the Mao Zedong period (1949–76) are particularly scarce in the West due to Cold War politics, including a trade embargo and economic blockade lasting more than two decades, and within the arts, a resistance in the West to Soviet- influenced Socialist Realism. wo years ago I began a project, Translating New China’s Cine- Phase One. Economic Recovery, ma for English-Speaking Audiences, to bring Maoist Heroic Revolutionaries, and Workers, T cinema to students and educators in the US. Several genres Peasants, and Soldiers (1949–52) from this era’s cinema are represented in the fifteen films we have Despite differences in perspective on Maoist cinema, general agree- subtitled to date, including those of heroic revolutionaries (geming ment exists as to the demarcation of its five distinctive phases (four yingxiong), workers-peasants-soldiers (gongnongbing), minority of which are represented in our program). The initial phase of eco- peoples (shaoshu minzu), thrillers (jingxian), a children’s film, and nomic recovery (1949–52) began with the emergence of the Dong- several love stories. Collectively, these films may surprise teachers bei (later Changchun) Film Studio as China’s new film capital.
    [Show full text]
  • Country Profile
    Country profile COUNTRY FACTS China Capital Beijing Habitat for Humanity in China Main country facts Gained Habitat for Humanity China began operating in Yunnan province in independence 2002 and opened offices in neighboring Guangdong and Guangxi in 1949 provinces in 2004. Habitat provides simple, decent homes to low- income rural families in these regions. Chengdu, the Population Over 1.37 billion provincial capital of Sichuan, is the location of an office which was started to coordinate rebuilding work after the devastating Urbanization 57.9 percent May 2008 earthquake. In 2009, Habitat opened an office in the live in cities financial hub of Shanghai to raise awareness and create partnerships in the Yangzi delta area. Life expectancy 75.7 years The housing need in China Unemployment 4 percent China has an impressive record in reducing poverty. According to rate official data, the world’s most populous country lifted more than 790 million people out of poverty between 1981 and 2012. Rapid Population living 3.3 percent growth and urbanization and economic reforms have been central below poverty line to China’s poverty reduction in the past few decades. By 2020, six in 10 persons living in China will be urban dwellers. However, ------------------------------------------------------ inequality has increased and poverty has become concentrated in Source: World Factbook rural and minority areas, according to the World Bank. There are more than 70 million rural Chinese still living below the country’s poverty line of 2,300 yuan (over US$360) in annual income. Many HABITAT FACTS of the poor lack access to affordable housing, shut out by soaring land and house prices, and the inadequate supply of low-cost accommodation.
    [Show full text]
  • Entire Dissertation Noviachen Aug2021.Pages
    Documentary as Alternative Practice: Situating Contemporary Female Filmmakers in Sinophone Cinemas by Novia Shih-Shan Chen M.F.A., Ohio University, 2008 B.F.A., National Taiwan University, 2003 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Novia Shih-Shan Chen 2021 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY SUMMER 2021 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Declaration of Committee Name: Novia Shih-Shan Chen Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Thesis title: Documentary as Alternative Practice: Situating Contemporary Female Filmmakers in Sinophone Cinemas Committee: Chair: Jen Marchbank Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Helen Hok-Sze Leung Supervisor Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Zoë Druick Committee Member Professor, School of Communication Lara Campbell Committee Member Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Christine Kim Examiner Associate Professor, Department of English The University of British Columbia Gina Marchetti External Examiner Professor, Department of Comparative Literature The University of Hong Kong ii Abstract Women’s documentary filmmaking in Sinophone cinemas has been marginalized in the film industry and understudied in film studies scholarship. The convergence of neoliberalism, institutionalization of pan-Chinese documentary films and the historical marginalization of women’s filmmaking in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), respectively, have further perpetuated the marginalization of documentary films by local female filmmakers.
    [Show full text]
  • Fragmented Memories and Screening Nostalgia for the Cultural Revolution
    Fragmented Memories and Screening Nostalgia for the Cultural Revolution Jing Meng Hong Kong University Press The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong https://hkupress.hku.hk © 2020 Hong Kong University Press ISBN 978-988-8528-46-2 (Hardback) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover image courtesy of Dongchun Films Co., Ltd. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Paramount Printing Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, China Contents List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1. Janus-Faced Nostalgia: Moral Critique, Sentimentalism, and Gender 16 2. Post-revolution Nostalgia: Memory as Performance 47 3. Beyond Nostalgia: Agency and Auteuristic Expressivity in Fragmented Memories 66 4. Post-trauma Narrative: Fragmented Past Flows into the Present 93 5. A Collective ‘I’ and Its Contending Readings: Personal Memories in Sent-Down Youth 111 6. Conclusion: Contingent Memories, Contested Modernities 139 Filmography 147 Bibliography 149 Illustrations Figure 1.1: Poster for Under the Hawthorn Tree 30 Figure 2.1: Still from Youth: The opening dancing rehearsal 51 Figure 2.2: Still from Youth: The shower scene 52 Figure 2.3: Still from Youth: The transitional scene of the
    [Show full text]
  • Submitted for the Phd Degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
    THE CHINESE SHORT STORY IN 1979: AN INTERPRETATION BASED ON OFFICIAL AND NONOFFICIAL LITERARY JOURNALS DESMOND A. SKEEL Submitted for the PhD degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1995 ProQuest Number: 10731694 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731694 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 A b s t ra c t The short story has been an important genre in 20th century Chinese literature. By its very nature the short story affords the writer the opportunity to introduce swiftly any developments in ideology, theme or style. Scholars have interpreted Chinese fiction published during 1979 as indicative of a "change" in the development of 20th century Chinese literature. This study examines a number of short stories from 1979 in order to determine the extent of that "change". The first two chapters concern the establishment of a representative database and the adoption of viable methods of interpretation. An important, although much neglected, phenomenon in the make-up of 1979 literature are the works which appeared in so-called "nonofficial" journals.
    [Show full text]
  • Ogawa Shinsuke and Asia
    ERIA-DP-2019-04 ERIA Discussion Paper Series No. 290 A Spark Beyond Time and Place: Ogawa Shinsuke and Asia Tamako AKIYAMA*†‡ Kanagawa University August 2019 Abstract: One of the most important documentary film-makers of the post-war period, Ogawa Shinsuke, had an enormous impact on film-makers across Asia. This paper will unpack some of the paradox-filled processes by which his influence spread across the Asian film-making world through an analysis of interviews, film festival records, and the role of translation during his lifetime (1936–1992). Energised by an increasing interest in mentoring young Asian film-makers in his later years, and having created a platform for the exchange of films and ideas through the first documentary film festival in Asia in the late 1980s, Ogawa continued to offer a kind of spiritual orientation to other film-makers in translation even after his death. This paper will examine how this process was not merely a result of Ogawa’s own efforts but realised through a series of interwoven yet contradictory social, economic, and interpersonal histories. Amidst the call for a greater exchange of media within and beyond Japan, the circulation across Asia of Ogawa’s cultural capital offers an opportunity to think about the significance of the various ‘investments’ that form such capital, and poses important issues for considering the conditions under which it can continue to survive. Keywords: Asia; Sinosphere; Ogawa Shinsuke; Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival; cultural capital; translation; interpretation * Corresponding author: Tamako Akiyama. Address: Faculty of Foreign Languages, Kanagawa University, 3-27-1 Rokkakubashi, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, 221-8686 Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography
    BIBLIOGRAPHY An Jingfu (1994) The Pain of a Half Taoist: Taoist Principles, Chinese Landscape Painting, and King of the Children . In Linda C. Ehrlich and David Desser (eds.). Cinematic Landscapes: Observations on the Visual Arts and Cinema of China and Japan . Austin: University of Texas Press, 117–25. Anderson, Marston (1990) The Limits of Realism: Chinese Fiction in the Revolutionary Period . Berkeley: University of California Press. Anon (1937) “Yueyu pian zhengming yundong” [“Jyutpin zingming wandung” or Cantonese fi lm rectifi cation movement]. Lingxing [ Ling Sing ] 7, no. 15 (June 27, 1937): no page. Appelo, Tim (2014) ‘Wong Kar Wai Says His 108-Minute “The Grandmaster” Is Not “A Watered-Down Version”’, The Hollywood Reporter (6 January), http:// www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wong-kar-wai-says-his-668633 . Aristotle (1996) Poetics , trans. Malcolm Heath (London: Penguin Books). Arroyo, José (2000) Introduction by José Arroyo (ed.) Action/Spectacle: A Sight and Sound Reader (London: BFI Publishing), vii-xv. Astruc, Alexandre (2009) ‘The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: La Caméra-Stylo ’ in Peter Graham with Ginette Vincendeau (eds.) The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks (London: BFI and Palgrave Macmillan), 31–7. Bao, Weihong (2015) Fiery Cinema: The Emergence of an Affective Medium in China, 1915–1945 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press). Barthes, Roland (1968a) Elements of Semiology (trans. Annette Lavers and Colin Smith). New York: Hill and Wang. Barthes, Roland (1968b) Writing Degree Zero (trans. Annette Lavers and Colin Smith). New York: Hill and Wang. Barthes, Roland (1972) Mythologies (trans. Annette Lavers), New York: Hill and Wang. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 203 G.
    [Show full text]
  • African Logistics Agents and Middlemen As Cultural Brokers in Guangzhou, In: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 44, 4, 117–144
    Journal of Current Chinese Affairs China aktuell Topical Issue: Foreign Lives in a Globalising City: Africans in Guangzhou Guest Editor: Gordon Mathews Mathews, Gordon (2015), African Logistics Agents and Middlemen as Cultural Brokers in Guangzhou, in: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 44, 4, 117–144. URN: http://nbn-resolving.org/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-4-9163 ISSN: 1868-4874 (online), ISSN: 1868-1026 (print) The online version of this article and the other articles can be found at: <www.CurrentChineseAffairs.org> Published by GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Institute of Asian Studies and Hamburg University Press. The Journal of Current Chinese Affairs is an Open Access publication. It may be read, copied and distributed free of charge according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. To subscribe to the print edition: <[email protected]> For an e-mail alert please register at: <www.CurrentChineseAffairs.org> The Journal of Current Chinese Affairs is part of the GIGA Journal Family, which also includes Africa Spectrum, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs and Journal of Politics in Latin America: <www.giga-journal-family.org>. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 4/2015: 117–144 African Logistics Agents and Middlemen as Cultural Brokers in Guangzhou Gordon MATHEWS Abstract: This article begins by asking how African traders learn to adjust to the foreign world of Guangzhou, China, and suggests that African logistics agents and middlemen serve as cultural brokers for these traders. After defining “cultural broker” and discussing why these brokers are not usually Chinese, it explores this role as played by ten logistics agents/middlemen from Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
    [Show full text]
  • Redirected from Films Considered the Greatest Ever) Page Semi-Protected This List Needs Additional Citations for Verification
    List of films considered the best From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Films considered the greatest ever) Page semi-protected This list needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be chall enged and removed. (November 2008) While there is no general agreement upon the greatest film, many publications an d organizations have tried to determine the films considered the best. Each film listed here has been mentioned in a notable survey, whether a popular poll, or a poll among film reviewers. Many of these sources focus on American films or we re polls of English-speaking film-goers, but those considered the greatest withi n their respective countries are also included here. Many films are widely consi dered among the best ever made, whether they appear at number one on each list o r not. For example, many believe that Orson Welles' Citizen Kane is the best mov ie ever made, and it appears as #1 on AFI's Best Movies list, whereas The Shawsh ank Redemption is #1 on the IMDB Top 250, whilst Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is #1 on the Empire magazine's Top 301 List. None of the surveys that produced these citations should be viewed as a scientif ic measure of the film-watching world. Each may suffer the effects of vote stack ing or skewed demographics. Internet-based surveys have a self-selected audience of unknown participants. The methodology of some surveys may be questionable. S ometimes (as in the case of the American Film Institute) voters were asked to se lect films from a limited list of entries.
    [Show full text]