Chinese Cinema in the Post-Cold War Era and the Legacy of the Sino-Japanese War: Devils on the Doorstep and Purple Sunset

Abstract

Chinese cinema is an applicable tool to analyze Sino-Japanese relations because it is closely interwoven with both aspects causing the contradictory situation mentioned: As a technically advanced and costly form of art and entertainment, cinema in general has an economic side that follows the logic of the markets. Therefore it seems only logical that these films were often conceived as a fallback into a Cold War agenda that denounced the PRC as China. As the examples Devils on the Doorstep by the actor-director Jiang Wen and Purple Sunset by Feng Xiaoning shows, there are two different positions at work. At this point, it seems worthwhile to focus on the main question this chapter deals with, namely how the history of the Second World War in general and the Sino-Japanese War in particular is presented in the cinema of the Post-Cold War Era in given part of East Asia. Keywords: Chinese cinema; Devils on the Doorstep ; Post-Cold War Era; Purple Sunset ; Red China; Sino-Japanese War