Early Chinese Cinema and Two-Way World Flows

Drawing on a broad range of previously untapped sources by and about female directors, writers, actresses, and moviegoers, this book offers new perspectives on the dynamic multidirectional flow of films, culture, and communities in the early twentieth century at a time of intense global political upheaval.

Early Chinese Cinema and Two-Way World Flows explores how the term ‘transnational’ became a condition—a site of translations, transactions, and transitions in Chinese cinema. Drawing on a broad range of previously untapped sources by and about female directors, writers, actresses, and moviegoers, including personal recollections from the family of female director Marion Evelyn Hong, this book offers new perspectives on the dynamic multidirectional flow of films, culture, and communities in the early twentieth century at a time of intense global political upheaval. At its heart are ‘transnational’ films and the women, audiences, and immigrants who positioned themselves across borders. This pioneering scholarship shows how cinema emerges as an affective medium and a tool of negotiation, enabling women to navigate political and immigrant experiences. It also examines how film production and circulation became strategic responses to racial misrepresentation, with diasporic Chinese communities playing a central role in these early economic and cultural exchanges between China and the United States. By highlighting the role of film in diasporic culture and economic transactions, this book opens new frontiers for scholars of feminist, diasporic, and global film studies, revealing the layered complexities of Chinese and Chinese American diasporic film cultures. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Chinese Cinemas.