ABSTRACT
The Taiwanese-language films (taiyupian) of the 1950s to the 1970s have excited renewed interest, often focused on the differences between the local Taiwanese-speaking islanders and the Mandarin-favoring forces that took over from the Japanese in 1945. This chapter asks how we understand taiyupian as a Cold War cinema. First, it considers the impact of the Cold War on the production, distribution, and exhibition of taiyupian when the natural market was divided by the Bamboo Curtain. Second, how can we consider the films themselves as shaped by and contributing to the culture of the Cold War? Finally, in East Asia, the Cold War is not over. So, how does the revival of interest in taiyupian participate in the ongoing Cold War?
