ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the reception of Chinese cinematography in Poland in the Cold War era. The author begins by focusing on the distribution of Chinese movies in Poland and the specific political and ideological contexts involved. Then the author uncovers the reception of Chinese movies among Polish film specialists. Throughout, the researcher compares the distribution and reception of Chinese cinematography in Poland under communism with the state of affairs in the period after the political transformation at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, arguing that the evolution of Polish sinology and film studies both depended on and was shaped by Poland’s relations with the People’s Republic of China. We also discover that while Polish sinologists could explore China’s culture and history, avoiding politically and ideologically controversial topics, Polish film studies were even more exposed to censorship restraints which drastically controlled and limited the distribution of Chinese films in Poland.
