RadiiChina's 100 Films to Watch to Help You Understand China
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The history of cinema has shadowed the history of modern China, turning a lens on more than a century of radical upheavals that have given form and substance to the People’s Republic as it stands today. In the spirit of exploring this vast and complex country through the layer of its big-screen output, RADII presents our list of 100 Films to Understand China. This is not a ranked list of 1-100 — we’re not trying to tell you the 100 “best” or “most important” films to come out of China. Our goal is to give a round and deep profile of the country through the medium of films made here in the last 100 years or so.
This list is a syllabus of movies across the spectrum of time, space and quality that, taken together, provide a snapshot of today’s China, the forces that shaped it, and the directions in which it’s moving looking forward. We’re focusing primarily on films made in mainland China, since these come from a different cultural context and industrial framework than films made in Hong Kong or Taiwan.
In assembling the list we reached out to filmmakers, producers, distributors, curators, critics, experts and industry insiders, who gave us an eclectic mix of mainstream titles, cult classics, and deep cuts. They provided these via the category headings that we provided and therefore do not necessarily endorse all of the selections you’ll find here.
To make it easier to navigate, we’ve divided the 100 films up into 10 categories with 10 movies each:
- Pre-war Shanghai;
- The Mao Years;
- Opening Up;
- Indie & Arthouse;
- Documentaries;
- Wuxia;
- Pop(corn) Culture;
- China Today;
- Bad Films;
- Animation.
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54 new
Wo hu cang long
2000 — a.k.a. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, in 27 top lists Check -
55 new
Ying xiong
2002 — a.k.a. Hero, in 6 top lists Check -
56 new
Shi mian mai fu
2004 — a.k.a. House of Flying Daggers, in 5 top lists Check -
58 new
Ip Man
2008, in 4 top lists Check -
10 new
Xiao cheng zhi chun
1948 — a.k.a. Spring in a Small Town, in 10 top lists Check -
42 new
Tiexi qu
2002 — a.k.a. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, in 8 top lists Check -
4 new
Shen nu
1934, in 10 top lists Check -
19 new
Lan feng zheng
1993 — a.k.a. The Blue Kite, in 8 top lists Check -
59 new
Yi dai zong shi
2013 — a.k.a. The Grandmaster, in 2 top lists Check -
20 new
Yang guang can lan de ri zi
1994 — a.k.a. In the Heat of the Sun, in 4 top lists Check -
40 new
Da xiang xidi erzuo
2018 — a.k.a. An Elephant Sitting Still, in 3 top lists -
27 new
Xiao Wu
1997 — a.k.a. Pickpocket, in 3 top lists Check -
74 new
Diqiu zuihou de yewan
2018 — a.k.a. Long Day's Journey Into Night, in 3 top lists -
84 new
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014, in 2 top lists Check -
28 new
Mang jing
2003 — a.k.a. Blind Shaft, in 4 top lists Check -
65 new
Du zhan
2012 — a.k.a. Drug War, in 2 top lists Check -
57 new
Huo Yuan Jia
2006 — a.k.a. Fearless, in 2 top lists Check -
7 new
Ma lu tian shi
1937 — a.k.a. Street Angel, in 6 top lists Check -
37 new
Bai ri yan huo
2014 — a.k.a. Black Coal, Thin Ice, in 1 top list Check -
93 new
Da nao tian gong
1963 — a.k.a. The Monkey King, in 0 top lists Check -
17 new
Wutai jiemei
1964 — a.k.a. Two Stage Sisters, in 6 top lists Check -
31 new
Niu pi
2005 — a.k.a. Oxhide, in 2 top lists Check -
64 new
Rang zi dan fei
2010 — a.k.a. Let the Bullets Fly, in 1 top list Check -
90 new
Mulan
2020, in 0 top lists Check -
45 new
Xianshi shi guoqu de weilai
2009 — a.k.a. Disorder, in 2 top lists Check -
80 new
Di jiu tianchang
2019 — a.k.a. So Long, My Son, in 1 top list -
22 new
Bei kao bei, lian dui lian
1994 — a.k.a. Back to Back, Face to Face, in 0 top lists Check -
86 new
The Great Wall
2016, in 1 top list Check -
77 new
Shaonian de ni
2019 — a.k.a. Better Days, in 2 top lists -
95 new
Nezha nao hai
1979 — a.k.a. Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King, in 1 top list Check -
53 new
Shao Lin si
1982 — a.k.a. The Shaolin Temple, in 1 top list Check -
41 new
Bumming in Beijing: The Last Dreamers
1990, in 1 top list Check -
98 new
Dayu haitang
2016 — a.k.a. Big Fish & Begonia, in 0 top lists Check -
39 new
Jia nian hua
2017 — a.k.a. Angels Wear White, in 0 top lists -
69 new
Mei ren yu
2016 — a.k.a. The Mermaid, in 1 top list Check -
46 new
Petition
2009, in 1 top list Check -
99 new
Hao ji le
2017 — a.k.a. Have a Nice Day, in 0 top lists -
16 new
Hong se niang zi jun
1961 — a.k.a. The Red Detachment of Women, in 1 top list Check -
26 new
Jidu hanleng
1996 — a.k.a. Frozen, in 1 top list Check -
8 new
Shi zi jie tou
1937 — a.k.a. Crossroads, in 1 top list Check -
24 new
Ermo
1994, in 1 top list Check -
78 new
Liu lang di qiu
2019 — a.k.a. The Wandering Earth, in 1 top list -
63 new
Feng kuang de shi tou
2006 — a.k.a. Crazy Stone, in 1 top list Check -
71 new
Zhan lang II
2017 — a.k.a. Wolf Warrior II, in 1 top list -
5 new
Xin nu xing
1935 — a.k.a. New Women, in 1 top list Check -
68 new
Lao pao er
2015 — a.k.a. Mr. Six, in 0 top lists Check -
100 new
Ne Zha zhi mo tong jiang shi
2019 — a.k.a. Ne Zha, in 1 top list -
67 new
Zhuo yao ji
2015 — a.k.a. Monster Hunt, in 1 top list Check -
87 new
Gong fu yu jia
2017 — a.k.a. Kung Fu Yoga, in 1 top list -
73 new
Wo bu shi yao shen
2018 — a.k.a. Dying to Survive, in 1 top list
Last updated on May 3, 2021; source