“The field of cinema studies in general, and Chinese cinema studies in particular, has been crying out for a reliable history in English of pre-1949 cinema, and this is it. Hu Jubin’s manuscript is comprehensive, well supported, and has a coherent argument taking it beyond a chronicle of facts to make it an engaging and readable intervention in debates and arguments about Chinese cinema. This book represents a major achievement.” —Chris Berry, Associate Professor of Film Studies, University of California, Berkeley

This is the first major work on pre-1949 Chinese cinema in English. As such, it represents a major contribution to existing discussions of both Chinese cinema and national cinema, and is an indispensible basic resource for scholars interested in Chinese film history. The book analyses the wide variety of conceptions of “Chinese national cinema” between the early years of the 20th century and 1949, and contrasts these to conceptions of national cinema in Europe and China.

After years of exhausting primary historical research, the author has been able to bring to light sources hitherto not widely available. The author argues that questions and debates about the status and meaning of the “national” in “Chinese national cinema” are central to any consideration of cinema during this period, and addresses the issue of Chinese nationalism as part of a complex history of cinema within the early modern Chinese nation.

Jubin Hu has recently completed his doctoral study at Department of Cinema Studies, La Trobe University, Australia. He has worked at the China Film Archive for many years, and is the author of Chinese Silent Film History (Zhongguo wusheng dianying shi) (with Suyuan Li) and An Ideological History of New China Cinema (Xin Zhongguo dianying yishixingtai shi).