Perspectives on Narrative Time in Chinese Cinema

Abstract

Abstract The unique view of time rooted in traditional Chinese culture is distinct from that of Western countries. In the Eastern perspective, eternity and evanescence are unified in the axiom: “The passage of time is like flowing water.” This concept also creates a different perspective on narrative time in Chinese films, compared with Western films. In the Chinese perspective, firstly, traditional laws of time are fully respected, and the four seasons, solar terms, and festivals are often seen as time nodes; secondly, a nationally imagined unity of time and space is followed, and expressions of time are likely to be integrated into artistic images such as objects, weather phenomena, and natural landscapes; thirdly, the cognitive laws of nature are respected whereby the linear or circumferential track is adopted and therefore a sense of leisure comes up in resonance; finally, the time scale is based on perception, and Chinese aesthetic style is thus construed while fulfilling the needs of narrative.