Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book evolution of Chinese cinema. In 1972, Jay Leyda published one of the earliest historical accounts of Chinese films and the film industry in the English language. During the 1980s and 1990s, scholarship on Hong Kong cinema also began to gain traction in the run-up to the 1997 handover of sovereignty of Hong Kong from British colonial rule to the People's Republic of China (PRC). The book focuses on the Hong Kong film industry and the space that has been forged for women practitioners within. It addresses a number of international perspectives' of China and Chinese films. It considers the representation of the Nanjing massacre in Chinese cinema. The book discusses the relationship between soft power' and film festivals by focuses on Ann Hui's A Simple Life.