ABSTRACT
Few film industries can neglect the impact of American films in the past 100 years, and the Chinese film industry is no exception. Other than some moment, American films always presented in China and influenced domestic Chinese films. Even during periods when American films were swept out China, their influence was hardly in vain. With respect to America’s impact on the domestic film industry, this chapter claims that the influence of American films largely relied on how the domestic industry responded to the United States. This book has attempted to explore how Chinese film practitioners in the early twentieth century actively responded to the United States and forged its modern film industry by harnessing the United States. On the one hand, the expansion of American films would “operate to curtail the demands for domestic films as Hollywood diverted a large portion of Chinese patrons, in particular foreign residents and upper-class Chinese with a sufficient knowledge of English.” On the other hand, American films could benefit the development of the domestic film industry in its global expansion. Hollywood sets an example for domestic film enterprises to imitate but also continuously innovates the domestic film industry in technology and inspires and uplifts domestic film business through competition.
