ABSTRACT
A group of young Shanghai film-makers suggested that the industry should develop a 'new mainstream cinema', a cinema with strong local content, targeting specific markets to seek a quick return. Low consumption of domestic cinema has been a major concern for the Chinese industry since the mid-1980s. China Film purchased product from the studios at a fixed price, which was passed to province distributors who in turn passed it on to the lower levels of city, district or county. Meanwhile, the importation of foreign movies and other domestic cultural products was restricted to allow domestic cinema free rein as the main popular entertainment for China. Economic reform has delivered a series of changes in the ways that cinema is produced and consumed. In 1998 foreign funds began to access China's film market through co-funded projects. America and Hong Kong investors have participated in cinema construction through new joint-venture cinemas in Kunming, Changsha, Chongqing and Wuhan along the Yangze River.
