Welcome to Chinese Film Classics!
This website is a free resource for learning about the history of Chinese cinema, focusing on films made in mainland China during the Republican era (1912-1949). What types of films were made in China during the first decades of cinema history? Which Chinese-language (and bilingual) films have been hailed as artistically, culturally, or historically significant, and why? How did Chinese filmmakers respond to, anticipate, or deviate from trends in world cinema? What can we learn from films of this era about Chinese history, culture, and society?
If you are interested in questions like these, you have come to the right place.
On this website you will find:
- English-subtitled copies of over twenty complete films and links to hundreds of videos on the Chinese Film Classics YouTube channel
- A free online course on Chinese Film Classics featuring twenty-two video lectures
- Information about a textbook on masterworks of early Chinese cinema
- Additional resources for learning about Chinese film history, including bibliographies, image galleries, film clips, and essays
- Information about the Chinese Film Classics project led by UBC professor Christopher Rea, including the scholars, students, and designers who are contributing to its development
