Success of Chinese Film Since 1984

Deng Xiaoping

Reached an agreement with Britain to return Hong Kong back to Chinese control in 1997.
Refered to as a "whirlwind" because he was so busy in helping to change China.
Spent the time before 1984 traveling around the world promoting China.
Initiated the Open Door Policy.
1984 was also the year that China reached self-sufficiency in production of food.

Open Door Policy

Although the open door policy was officially a policy regarding equal and fair trade with China, what it ultimately resulted in was opening the door of China for the world to peer in.
For the first time, people around the world were getting a glimpse into a country that previously was only known in myths and tales.

Artistic Freedom

Deng, while disagreeing with many of the politics of Mao's reign, also disagreed with the suppression of the arts.
This directly lead into the Beijing Film School and the fifth generation filmmakers.

Fifth Generation Film Makers

Zhang Yimou
Chen Kaige
Tian ZhuangZhuang
Wu Ziniu
Huang Jianxin
First generation after the open-door policy.
Graduated in the 1980s
Yellow Earth: directed by Chen Kaige and cinematography by Zhang Yimou; radically different from any previous Chinese films.

Red Sorghum

1987
Internationally renowned for it's beautiful cinematography, directed by Zhang Yimou.

Media

All of these goings on were bringing China into the media globally and people were really interested in China and could actually glimpse in for the first time in history.
Films then, were a perfect medium for foreigners to view this mysterious country.

Conclusion

The success of films in 1984 was due, in my opinion, to China's opening up, to Deng Xiaoping's reforms, to the fifth generation filmmaker's distinct styles, and to the global media exposure of all of this.

Resources

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/inside.china/profiles/deng.xiaoping/
http://www1.chinaculture.org/library/2008-01/18/content_68045.htm
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0955443/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/429642/Open-Door-policy

--Keeley X. 22:07, 6 March 2012 (UTC)