Confronting modernity in the cinemas of Taiwan and Mainland China /
[Book]
Tonglin Lu.
New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2002.
x, 246 pages :
illustrations ;
24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-238), filmography (p. 239-241) , and index.
"This book is a cultural study of New Wave cinema that considers the experience of modernity and modernization in Taiwan and mainland China. Following separate paths, Taiwan and China have both rapidly modernized, economically and culturally, since 1949. Despite differences in the political, social, and economic systems of the two regions, the process of modernization has challenged traditional cultural norms in both. At the same time, the significant differences in this process respectively shape perceptions of tradition in the two regions to the extent that the notion of Chinese tradition also differs in Taiwan and on the mainland. In fact, tradition itself is often reconstructed retrospectively for the sake of modernization."
"Tonglin Lu examines how differences in cultural formation between Taiwan and China have influenced reactions to modernity and how cultural identity has taken different forms on both sides of the Taiwan straits. She illustrates the expression of these differences in the experience of modernity through her analysis of paradigmatic films produced in both countries, with a particular emphasis on their formal experiments."--Jacket.