"The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds."
--Jawaharlal Nehru
The national cinema of every nation reflects to some degree the culture, heritage and traditions of that nation, its historical concerns and its people's joys, sorrows and aspirations throughout history. Even many films which appear at first to be little more than sheer escapist entertainment may still provide some insight into these matters, as a reflection of what has concerned and still interests the people of that nation.
The Chinese Mirror is an online journal devoted to the history of one of the world's most productive national cinemas of the 20th Century, reflecting the hopes and sufferings of the Chinese people throughout a century of revolution, civil war and foreign invasion. The primary objective of this journal is to provide an historical record of China's contributions to world cinema, and introduce its classic films and filmmakers to the Western world. The secondary objective is to convey to Western readers some understanding of China and the Chinese people through their motion pictures, and hopefully provide some insight into how their modern history has influenced their contemporary world outlook. The articles published here are provided as a service to scholars and researchers in the West, particularly those who may not be proficient in the Chinese language. It is hoped that what is presented here will inspire some visitors to this site to learn more about China's motion picture tradition, and perhaps guide them to some greater understanding of this massive, complex, fascinating country and its people. While the majority of the topics discussed will be concerned with classical films and filmmakers, there will be some attention to the modern era as well. All of the articles presented in these pages are the work of the website publisher, either authored or translated by him from the Chinese film literature. This material is made available to the public under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-Noncommercial).
Any use of this content should cite The Chinese Mirror as the source, and if the article is labeled as a translation, use of that material in further research should also cite the original Chinese source, for which full bibliographic information will be provided with the translation.