Abstract:
This thesis explores China’s industrial response to Hollywood and its contribution to the formation of the Chinese film industry in the early twentieth century. The study of the industrial relations between Hollywood and China remains nascent so far. Drawing on primary materials including studio archives, industrial surveys, official records, trade journals and English and Chinese newspapers, this thesis addresses the relations between Hollywood and the Chinese film industry by examining issues including the role Hollywood played as a transnational force, the dynamics of China’s industrial response to Hollywood, the contribution of the figures who acted as the intermediaries, and the consequences of the industrial response. An investigation of the industrial relations between Hollywood and China should be considered in a transnational context, not only due to the transnationality of Hollywood, but also due to the blurred national boundaries between China and the United States with regard to the film industry. Therefore, this study is associated with the current paradigmatic shift from a national cinema approach to a transnational cinema approach. This thesis advocates the positive impact of Hollywood on the Chinese domestic film industry and demonstrates that the conscious response to Hollywood commenced and consolidated the domestic film industry in the 1920s and 1930s.
