Introduction
Unlike the United States, China regards its cinema as a high art rather than a form of entertainment. According to David A. Cook's History of Narrative Film, Chinese Cinema is "taught and understood as another form of literature." This is due in part to its mastery of film aesthetics including cinematography, montage and mise-en-scene. Simple plot structure and symbolic narrative story lines serve as guidelines for philosophical reflections and political ruminations.
Chen Kaige is one of the leading directors to develop Chinese Cinema and one of the more philosophical artists to reach international acclaim. His mastery at formulating visual metaphors, audio streams and cine-language palpitates with intellectual insights on society and Chinese culture.
Biography
Born in Beijing on August 12, 1952, Kaige was influenced
by film at an early age through his father, Chen Huai'ai, also a director.
Having experienced the beginning stages of the Cultural Revolution at fifteen
and participated in the People's Liberation Army for nearly eight years,
Kaige finally decided to follow in his father's footsteps and took his
chances with a 
job
in the Beijing Film Processing laboratory. Discovering his inherent talent
for cinematography and directing, as well as an innate love for film, Kaige
was accepted into the Beijing Film Academy several years later (Tam &
Dissanayake).
Following graduation in 1982 and filled with experience, Chen's first cinematic endeavors included Farewell to Yesterday (Xiang zuotian gaobie) in 1980 with Fujian Television, and as an assistant director for Brother Echo (Yingsheng a'ge), The Fragile Skiff (Yiye xiaozhou) and 26 Young Ladies (26 ge guniang). But it was Kaige's release of Yellow Earth (Huang tudi) which brought not only personal international acclaim but artistic recognition for Chinese Cinema as a well. Since then he has directed five other films: The Big Parade (Da yuebing), King of the Children (Haizi wang), Life on a String (Bian zou bian chang), Farewell to My Concubine (Ba wang bie ji), Temptress Moon (Feng yue), and his most recent film, The First Emperor. One of the leaders of the Fifth Generation film directors, Chen's work is marked by his beautiful landscape shots of China and realistic portrayals of rural life. His mastery for symbolic narratives and film aesthetics serve as a vehicle for social, political and nationalist messages (Tam & Dissanayake).
I always wanted to teach people through film, to give them a big message. But now what I feel I want to do is more to dream through film, hoping that maybe the film itself will be able to tell more than I can. (Schell)
Yellow Earth
Made in 1984 and shown at the Hong Kong International
Film Festival, Kaige's Yellow Earth marked the start of the Fifth
Generation film directors and the birth of a new Chinese Cinema. Challenging
the propaganda used by socialist realism, 
Kaige
created his narration by focusing on images and mise en scene aesthetics.
Based on the novel by Ke Lan, Yellow Earth recounts a simple story
of a Communist solider who comes to a small village in Northern China with
the intent to collect folk-songs for nationalistic purposes. The solider
resides in an impoverished home with an old man and his two children, a
young girl (Ciuqiao) and her nearly mute brother. During his brief stay,
the solider tells Ciuqiao about the capital Yan'an, and the treatment of
women under Communism there. After discovering that she was betrothed in
infancy, Ciuqiao runs away in search of a new life in the city but accidentally
drowns while crossing a river. Full of visual metaphors and allegories,
Yellow
Earth examines the complex relationship between culture and politics
and the interplay between the past and present.
Reflecting ancient Chinese paintings, the cinematographer Zhang Yimou brought the film to a deeper level with shots that parallel the young girl's inevitable failure in the search for freedom with harsh destitute forms of nature. Although winning international acclaim, the film was bombarded with criticism from Beijing censors who viewed it as a way of stereotyping the Chinese (Tam & Dissanayake).
Life on a String
Chen Kaige's most philosophical work, Life on A String (1991) was adapted from a story by Shi Tiesheng about a blind storyteller and his young disciple. As a young boy, the blind storyteller was given a Chinese banjo known as a sanxian and told of a sacred prescription to blindness trapped within it. But it is only after the thousandth string is broken that the instrument will open up and reveal its medicinal secret. After years of performance, the thousandth string is finally broken and the prescription revealed. Ironically, the prescription is blank and the old blind man's faith is shattered (Schell). In many ways, the film deals with issues of Chinese nationalism. The dichotomy between the young apprentice and the old man is reminiscent of the false sense of hope and ideologies presented by China's leaders and a political rumination about the people who follow them. In the director's own words, Kaige explains the consequences in following false hope:
It is important for the old man to believe in something, even though this belief finally comes to naught. Actually, he does get a great deal back from life by saving people, and I can identify with this, because IAside from its controversial political agenda, the film captures Kaige's unique aesthetic vision through cinematic terms. Kaige paints a mesmerizing background on screen with colorful imagery and pays special attention to artistic composition echoes Japanese theories on positive and negative space. A commercial failure in the movie market, the visual power of the film was not enough to win over critics and audiences.know it's important that people have something to believe in. But disastrous consequences can also result from such beliefs and illusory dreams. Look at the Cultural Revolution. How many Chinese believed in it, and yet how many will now take any responsibility for that illusion? (Schell)
Works Cited
Dissanayake, Wimal & Tam, Kwok-kan. "Chen Kaige: Steps toward a Personal Cinema". New Chinese Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Schell, Orville. "Chen Kaige". The New York Times. 27 Jan. 1991: Sec 2, pg.13.
Selected Bibliography
Browne, Nick. New Chinese Cinemas: Forms, Identities, Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.
Dissanayake, Wimal. Colonialism and Nationalism in Asian Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.
Semsel, George S. Chinese Film Theory. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990.
Zhang, Xudong. Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reforms: Cultural Fever, Avant-Garde Fiction, and New Chinese Cinema (Post-Contemporary Interventions). Durham: Duke University Press, 1997.
Related Links
Biographies of Director and Analysis of Films
Yellow Earth:
Temptress Moon
Author: Helen Han, Spring 1999
Links
within this site
Introduction Authors Theorists Terms
& Issues