THE WOLF AT THE DOOR：HOLLYWOOD AND THE FILM MARKET IN CHINA FROM 1994-2000.doc

“the wolf at the door”：hollywood and the film market in china from 1994-2000(二) true liesfollowed quickly，opening in beijing on april 20，and eventuallybringing in 102million yuan nationally ，a total succeeded in subsequent yearsonly by the massive success of titanicin 1998.although forrest gump ，the secondamerican import in 1995，was a relative failure ，almost all the hollywood importsin 1995and 1996were successful at the box office，as can be seen in table 1.（24）table 1box office receipts for american megafilms（dapian）in china （1994-2000）film title production company/distributor box office in china：renminbi（millionyuan ）1994the fugitive warner brothers 25.81995 true lies united international pictures （uip ）*102.0forrest gump uip 19.6the lion king disney 41.3speed 20th century fox 37.8bad boys columbia tristar 32.8die hard 3edko 47.01996outbreak warner brothers 32.6a walk in the clouds fox 20.5the bridges of madison county warner brothers 39.5broken arrow fox 50.5waterworld uip 34.0toy story disney 31.8jumanji columbia tristar 47.7twister uip 54.5the rock disney 47.7mission impossible uip 45.11997sabrina uip 20.0eraser warner 45.8courage under fire fox 25.0space jam warner 24.1dantes peak uip 47.6jurassic park ：the lost world uip 72.1speed 2fox 30.41998batman and robin warner 20.0volcano fox 17.8titanic fox 359.5daylight uip 15.9home alone 3fox 40.2deep impact dreamworks/cj 51.3saving private ryan uip 82.31999rush hour new line 25.0mulan disney 11.0enemy of the state disney 22.0star wars ，episode 1：the phantom menace fox 33.0tarzan disney 11.0entrapment fox 29.02000the matrix warner brothers 17.0stuart little sony 20.8double jeopardy uip 15.0the generals daughter uip 21.0mickey blue eyes polygram 6.0u571canal+/summit*dinosaur disneygladiator uipmission impossible ii uipsource：interviews conducted in china.*one u.s.dollar is equivalent to around8.2chinese yuan（rmb ）*uip distributes films for universal，paramount and mgm.*u-571was releasedby universal in the united states but was distributed abroad by canal+/summit.it was clear that imported films had become essential to the survival of thechinese film industry.already by 1994，imports had brought china film 60percentof its $12million revenue.total box office receipts in the first half of 1995jumped 50percent over the same period a year earlier ，and summer attendance attheaters in beijing had increased by 70percent.moreover ，the success of theimports carried over to domestic releases ；the crowds were beginning to returnto chinese cinemas.（25）the market matures：highs（titanic）and lows （bans and low profits）amid continuing uncertaintieshollywoods successesdespite a variety of administrative measures aimed at controlling unbridledmarket forces ，imported films have taken a majority share of the chinese market.one well-placed interviewee in the chinese film bureaucracy suggested that the tenimported revenue-sharing films occupied 70percent of the market，leaving the remaining30percent for the 100or more domestic films.the problem the chinese governmentfaces stems ，in large part，from the contradictions noted in the introduction.the chinese film industry cannot survive unless filmgoers in relatively large numberscan be enticed to pay their own way into a theater to watch domestic films.yetthe film industry in china represents far more than a means for entertaining thepublic.film，as lenin pointed out long ago，is essential for building supportfor the government and properly socializing chinese citizens.politics and commercetherefore have often collided in the 1990s.unless the government has taken draconianmeasures -for example，the outright bans on american films and/or film studiosdiscussed below that left no recourse -film industry professionals have generallybeen able to skirt official regulations that interfered with market forces.whenmarket forces have not been impeded ，hollywood films have been most successful.when administrative regulations have been most forcefully implemented ，hollywoodfilms have been denied market share.one important example of the governments efforts to control the market is theregulations on the management of films ，issued as document no.200by the statecouncil on may 29，1996，after it had become clear that chinese films couldnot compete with imported films without governmental support.article 45of theregulations mandates that at least 2/3of the total time given to exhibiting filmsin theaters must be reserved for domestic films.theater operators，however，haveroutinely violated this regulation.（26）hollywoods domination of the market is of course a recent phenomenon.beforethe opening of chinas film market to imported megaproductions the publics knowledgeof foreign films came primarily from old movies seen on television and on video ，as well as from stories in newspapers and magazines.the explosion in knowledgeabout the outside world since 1995，particularly in the area of popular culture，has been remarkable.a good example of this can be seen in the changing popularityof film stars in china over the past five years.tables 2，3and 4provide surveydata on the most popular foreign and domestic film stars.table 2comes from a surveyconducted by horizon survey company and beijing youth daily in may 1995.the surveywas entitled the world in the eyes of the chineseand asked 1，050respondentsin five major cities to compare foreign countries with china on a range of measures.one question asked participants to list their favorite foreign movie star.although74actors were listed ，the largest number of respondents -44.8percent of thesample -gave no response.of the top ten names on the list ，seven were americansor foreign actors who had become world famous as a result of their american films，showing hollywoods influence even before the large influx of imported theatricalfilms.there were also two japanese and one frenchman on the list.looking moreclosely one is struck by how many of the actors were no longer working，or in somecases even living.although sylvester stallone came at the top and arnold schwarzeneggercame in eighth -true lieshad opened shortly before this poll -virtually allthe other names on the list ，including the non-americans，had been popular inprevious decades.table 2most popular foreign film stars in china（five major cities ，may 1995，n=1，050）film star percentagesylvester stallone（u.s.） alain delon （france） marilyn monroe（u.s.） charlie chaplin （u.s.） ingrid bergman（sweden-u.s.） 7.7% 7.0% 4.7% 4.0% 2.7% yamaguchi momoe （japan ） shirley temple（u.s.） arnold schwarzenegger （u.s.）vivien leigh（u.k.-u.s.） takakura ken（japan ） 2.3% 2.0% 1.5% 1.3% 1.3% source：zhongguo ren yanzhong de shijie ，in horizon research company andstate statistical bureau，eds.，guancha zhongguo （observing china ），（beijing：gongshang chubanshe，1997），p.39.tables 3and 4come from a more recent survey of junior and senior high studentsin five coastal cities，conducted from july-october 1999.table 3asked the studentsto list their favorite international film star.hong kong and hollywood dominatethe list.hong kong superstar jackie chan is the clear favorite of the students.however ，since rumble in the bronxwas re-edited for the american market in1996，he has become widely known in north america as well.indeed，recent filmssuch as rush hourand shanghai noon，both widely seen in china ，have madehim a hollywood star in his own right.of the top fifteen names on the list ，fiveare hong kong actors and eight are hollywood actors.chow yun-fat and jet li，ofcourse，have also made the move to hollywood.table 3favorite foreign movie stars of high school students（junior and senior high，five coastal cities ，july-october 1999，n=1，589）film star percentagejackie chan （h.k.） arnold schwarzenegger （u.s.） sylvester stallone（u.s.） leonardo dicaprio （u.s.） chow yun-fat（h.k.） tom cruise（u.s.） maggie cheung （h.k.） 18.6% 8.1% 7.0% 6.3% 6.2% 5.2% 4.4% steven chiau（h.k.） vivian leigh（u.s.） jet li（h.k.） alain delon （france）kashiwabara takashi（japan ）kate winslet（u.s.）tom hanks （u.s.）gene kelly（u.s.） 3.4% 2.6% 2.2% 2.0% 1.6% 1.4% 1.2% 1.2%source：xun cool yidai （looking for the cool generation ），horizon researchreport，beijing，december 15，1999，p.57.table 4is from the same survey and lists the most popular domestic movie starsof the high school students.the results are of interest for several reasons.first，the number of students who had a favorite domestic film star is far lower than thenumber who had a favorite international star.the fifteen names on the list of internationalstars total 71.4percent of the student responses ；the fifteen names on the listof domestic stars total only 26.1percent.this strongly suggests that the largemajority of the students surveyed do not have a favorite domestic film star ，andthat they greatly prefer films made outside china to those made on the mainland.a closer look at the list in table 4reveals even more strikingly the seriousproblemsfaced by chinas film industry.of the top five names on the list -representingalmost half of all student votes for domestic（guonei）film stars -three arefrom hong kong（gu tianle ，steven chiau and jackie chan ）and one is from taiwan（yu xiaofan）。moreover ，even the one bona fide mainland star on the list -zhao wei -made her reputation as the star of an enormously popular television seriescalled huanju gege rather than as a film actress.indeed，several other names onthe list -for example taiwan actress lin xinru and taiwan actors su youpeng andchen zhipeng -also became well known as a result of this television series （althoughsu and chen had also been popular as part of a singing group）。the series itself，a fanciful tale that takes place in the qing emperors household，was written bytaiwan writer qiong yao and has been criticized on the mainland for distorting chinesehistory.it is only in sixth and seventh place on the list -at 1.6percent of thevotes -that one finds certifiable mainland film stars ge you and gong li.the chinesepress has frequently noted the inability of mainland stars to compete ，even inchina ，with their hollywood and greater chinacounterparts.one report notedthat chinas box office superstars are pitifully few in number ，suggesting thatgong li stands alone ，as her screen lovers are invariably unhandsome ，ugly，or jokesterstars.the report concludes，somberly ，that another famous chineseactress ，ning jing，also stands in lonely isolation ，because she does nothave a male partner who is a young and skilled actor；many of her screen loversare handsome foreign devils.（27）table 4favorite chinese movie stars of high school students（junior and senior high，five coastal cities ，july-october 1999（n=1，589）film star percentagezhao wei（mainland） gu tianle （h.k.） yu xiaofan（taiwan） steven chiau（h.k.） jackie chan （h.k.） ge you（mainland） gong li （mainland） wang yan（mainland） 4.5% 2.3% 2.2% 2.0% 1.9% 1.6% 1.6% 1.5% liu pei （mainland）lin xinru （taiwan） chen zhipeng（taiwan） shu qi（h.k.） su youpeng（taiwan）jet li（h.k.） zhang fengyi（mainland） zheng yijian（h.k.） 1.5% 1.4% 1.2% 1.1% 0.9% 0.8% 0.8% 0.8%source：xun cool yidai （looking for the cool generation ），horizon researchreport，beijing，december 15，1999，p.57.hollywoods influence and success can also be seen in the vast changes in theavailability of popular literature about american films and film publications moregenerally.high-gloss film magazines with far better production values than theiramerican counterparts now introduce the latest hollywood films and movie stars eachmonth ，selling out quickly on newsstands.dianying shijie （english title ：themoviesshow ）and kan dianying zuopin（english title ：movie view ），publishedin changchun，jilin province and chengdu ，sichuan province respectively，arewidely considered the best of these new publications.each issue comes with a fullcolor poster of a recent american film and is filled with enticin