Chinese Movie Posters: Discover the Appeal

Chinese movie posters are as diverse as the many cultures that coexist in China. In fact, there is no single dominant strain of Chinese film culture. Rather, we can identify three major threads and many sub-threads within them. There's the cinema of mainland China, which has developed since 1949 under the strict control and censorship of the Chinese Communist Party. A nearly diametrically opposite path was followed by the Cinema of Hong Kong - where the government did not regulate films at all. Taiwan, too, developed its own distinct movie culture after its split from Communist China.

The languages on Chinese movie posters reflect the astounding linguistic diversity of China as well. Most of the mainland Chinese posters are in Mandarin, whereas the posters from Hong Kong arevirtually all in Cantonese. The two languages differ from one another as much as English might differ from German!

The origins of Chinese Cinema can be traced back to 1905, when the first Chinese film - "The Battle of Dingjunshan" - was recorded. It was a performance of the Beijing Opera - the first movie actually produced in China. Ten years later, moviemaking in China began to truly flourish, with the help of qualified film technicians from the United States. Famous early moviemakers like the Mingxing Film Company and the Shaw Brothers' Tianyi Film Company got their start then.

When the Japanese invaded China in the 1930s, the Chinese film industry was dealt a severe blow, and only the Xinhua Film Company survived. This company moved to Hong Kong and would late become a major player in the film industry there. After the Japanese were defeated, a second flowering of Chinese movies occurred in the late 1940s. Movies like "Crows and Sparrows" (1949), "The Spring River Flows East" (1947), and "Myriads of Lights" (1948) are recognized as classics by millions of Chinese moviegoers today. You can celebrate these amazing films with Chinese movie posters.

In recent years, Chinese cinema has made a strong impression on movie fans throughout the world. Films like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero" are packed with action, fascinating and detailed plots, and amazing special effects. With these movies, many Western audiences discovered Chinese films for the first time and have since been on the lookout for more. Chinese movie posters are increasingly in demand all over the Western world as fans seek to decorate their rooms with images from their favorite films.