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Quasi-independent films: an adaptation of Chinese independent films

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Quasi-independent films: an adaptation of Chinese independent films

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Quasi-independent Films:
An Adaptation of Chinese Independent Films

Yanjin Chen

East Asian Area Studies
Master of Arts
University of Southern California
August, 2019
1

Table of Contents
Table of Contents................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2
The Emergence of Quasi-independent Films ......................................................................... 12
SARFT .................................................................................................................................. 15
• Production Sector ................................................................................................................ 16
• Exhibition Sector .................................................................................................................. 19
• Limits of Censorship ............................................................................................................. 21
Xin Yukun’s Case .................................................................................................................. 25
• Director Xin Yukun ............................................................................................................... 26
• Wrath of Silence .................................................................................................................. 28
• Genre in Xin Yukun’s Film ..................................................................................................... 33
Hu Bo’s Case ........................................................................................................................ 35
• An Elephant Sitting Still ........................................................................................................ 36
• Director Hu Bo’s Suicide ....................................................................................................... 39
• Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 41
Wen Muye’s Case ................................................................................................................ 42
• Jin Lan Gui Qin (2011), Battle (2012), and Requiem (2014) ..................................................... 43
• Dying to Survive ................................................................................................................... 46
• Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 49
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 50
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 55

2
Introduction

“Many Chinese people think commercial movies are not art. Independent films are
artistic but lack audiences. Maybe, in the future of Chinese films, commercial
movies need to add more art while independent films need to attract more
audiences.”
1

-Director Jia Zhangke

In 2018, director Jia Zhangke made the comments above, which reveals the importance of
independent films that are able to take on some characteristics of commercial movies, namely:
appealing to a wider audience. The hybridization between commercial and independent films also
reflects a tendency where independent films are able to reconcile with China’s censorship system
of films because, in China, all cultural products potentially shown to the public has to go through
the censorship system. The requirements of censorship help explain why in 2015, Busan
Observation published an article that expressed the author’s concerns about the potential
disappearance of Chinese independent films because many independent filmmakers, like Jia
Zhangke, were involved in China’s state censorship system, which is primarily operated by
National Radio and Television Administration (which is also shortened as SARFT).
2
Thus, the
worries presented in the article and the director Jia’s statement above present the status quo of
contemporary Chinese independent films where independent films have to continually resist
SARFT’s control over culture and the commercializing film industry in order to maintain a space
where they are able to develop as independent films; however, with the powerful surveillance from
SARFT and the commercialism of China’s film market, conditions for these films to maintain their

1
Michael Berry, Interview Jia Zhangke in 2018 UCLA the 4th China Onscreen Biennial, The author’s note,
November 10, 2018.
2
Jingyu Li, trans., “Busan Observation: When Jia Zhangkes ‘Enter the System’ While Li Xiantings ‘Disappearing’,
Where Are Chinese Independent Film Going? (Fushan Guancha: Dang Jia Zhangke Men ‘Zouru Tizhi’, Li Xianting
Men ‘Xiaoshi’, Zhongguo Duli Dianying Hequ Hecong?),” accessed May 3, 2019,
http://www.ylzbl.com/article/1463.
3
independence from the censorship system and the commercialization of the market are decreasing.
Due to the problematic circumstances of the development of independent films, in the article titled
The Death of Chinese Independent Cinema?, Chris Berry stated, “the main thing that Chinese
independent films and filmmakers try to be independent of is the state. (But) None of this is
intended to downplay the impact of the crackdown in the world of Chinese non-mainstream cinema.
There has been a sea change, and the indie scene is greatly diminished.”
3
The statement expresses
his concerns about Chinese independent films.
4
Also, in the title of the article, he used a question
mark to express his uncertain attitude toward the future of Chinese independent films.
5
His
question about how to situate contemporary independent films, whether they are not dying but
only changing, is also an essential question in this thesis. I will introduce a new term, quasi-
independent films, to distinguish independent films that have changed from the traditional
independent films.

This thesis will discuss questions such as how censorship and commercialization in the film market
have influenced independent films and how these kinds of films have to change in order to survive.
To answer the questions, the thesis will analyze the influences of censorship in China and the
commercial factors on independent films. Specifically, I am interested in analyzing relationships
between Chinese independent films, the censorship system, which is commonly blamed as one of
the greatest obstacles to the existence of Chinese independent films,
6
and the commercializing film
industry which includes influences of commercial movies and commercial film production. In

3
Chris Berry, “The Death of Chinese Independent Cinema?,” China Film Insider, November 9, 2017,
http://chinafilminsider.com/the-death-of-chinese-independent-cinema/.
4
Berry, “The Death of Chinese Independent Cinema?”.
5
Berry, “The Death of Chinese Independent Cinema?”.
6
Ying Zhu and Stanley Rosen, Art, Politics, and Commerce in Chinese Cinema (Hong Kong, HONG KONG: Hong Kong
University Press, 2010), 3, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=677312.
4
order to do so, the thesis will analyze examples of directors Xin Yukun, Hu Bo, and Wen Muye to
argue that Chinese independent films are not dead but only change themselves to adapt to the
pressure from the censorship system and the domestic film market’s preference of commercial
movies. In this situation, there are independent films that are becoming what I call quasi-
independent films. Quasi-independent films are an adaptation of independent films. They are
different from traditional independent films, which were made outside of the censorship system,
in that they have a tendency to work with censorship and take advantages of the commercializing
film market. However, they still retain qualities of independent films in terms of their styles,
themes, production, funding sources, and distribution so that many of them are often regarded as
independent films when audiences and critics mention them. Since the operation of the censorship
process is often ambiguous and arbitrary, quasi-independent films’ qualities of independence can
find opportunities to retain under the surveillance of the censorship system. These qualities
differentiate them from commercial movies and propaganda films. Quasi-independent films not
only help provide alternative ways for independent films to develop but also become a factor that
is attractive to many audiences in varies kinds of Chinese films, such as commercial movies, in
some cases.

Quasi-independent films share some common qualities with independent films, but the two are
different. Characteristics of independent films vary in different areas. For example, in the United
States, independent films refer to movies produced outside of Hollywood.
7
In many countries in
Asia, independent films are different from commercial movies in that independent filmmakers are
willing to go to film festivals and exhibitions to gain international exposure instead of sending

7
Sherry B. Ortner, Not Hollywood: Independent Film at the Twilight of the American Dream (Durham; Duke
University Press, 2013).4.
5
independent films in public theater.
8
In China, traditionally, independent films are seen as films
that do not go through the censorship system. For example, scholar Jim Cheng gave a definition
that considers “all films that are not admitted by officials as independent films.”
9
Also, Chris Berry
once stated that “the main standard for defining independence in China is not submitting your film
to the censors.”
10
Based on both of their definitions of independent films, traditionally, Chinese
independent films have refused to go through the censorship system. Furthermore, the examples
from other parts of the world suggest that these kinds of films are opposite to movies made through
the commercial system. By contrast, quasi-independent film utilizes attempts and approaches that
are different from traditional independent filmmaking in seeking to work both with the state and
the commercial film market especially after 2011 when domestic independent film festivals were
gradually shutting down. Thus, by analyzing specific films, I will elaborate important questions,
which include what qualities of independence remain in quasi-independent film, and how quasi-
independent films make a compromise between the censorship system and the commercialism of
the film market while simultaneously reserving their qualities of independence.

Chris Berry, Lu Xinyu, and Lisa Rofel’s book New Chinese Documentary Film Movement: For
the Public Record
11
is useful to further understand the relationship between traditional independent
films and quasi-independent films. Lu, one of the co-editors of the book, has previously published
several seminal works emphasizing the importance of the New Documentary Movement in China

8
Tilman Baumgärtel, Southeast Asian Independent Cinema (Hong Kong, HONG KONG: Hong Kong University Press,
2012), 3, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=877741.
9
Jim Cheng, “Changing Comtemporary Chinese Independent Film and Its Oversea Collectives (Shanbian Zhong De
Dangdai Zhongguo Duli Dianying Jiqi Haiwai Shoucang)” (Columbia University, 2010), 3,
http://dx.doi.org/10.7916/D8SJ1VZZ.
10
Berry, “The Death of Chinese Independent Cinema?”
11
Chris Berry, Xinyu Lü, and Lisa Rofel, The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record (Hong
Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010), 4.
6
from the 1980s to early 2000s. The book, published in 2010, provides “a sustained focus on
Chinese independent documentary”
12
in the New Documentary movement. The thesis will seek to
expand Lu’s statements about Chinese independent films to analyze a change of contexts where
contemporary independent filmmaking happened under the censorship system of the state. During
the Culture Revolution, all films in China were made by state-owned studios. There were no
private film production companies nor any ideas of film directing solely “for art’s sake”. All films
should contribute to political purposes.
13
After the Culture Revolution, Chinese economic reform
and the Tiananmen Democracy Movement intensely influenced the society at that time. Chinese
independent documentaries were motivated by these social changes,
14
which led sixth-generation
directors, the representative participants of the New Documentary Movement, to search for “new
kind of reality in their films”, which can “generate new social meanings and therefore new ways
of dealing with social problems”.
15
The sixth-generation directors were the first groups of
filmmakers that produced films outside of the state system. Also, their works were considered the
first groups of films that showed alternative realities in China from personal perspectives.

Therefore, there was a change in the idea of “Chinese independent films”, where privately-made
films partially and gradually replaced the domination of films made within the state. In this sense,
independent films were films that were not censored nor directly related to the state. However, the
number of films that do not go through the censorship process is decreasing, if not disappearing,
especially after the imposition of China’s new film law, Film Industry Promotion Law of the

12
Berry, Lü, and Rofel, The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record, 4.
13
Berry, Lü, and Rofel, The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record, 4-5.
14
Berry and Rofel, “Introduction”, The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record.
15
Lü, “Rethinking China’s New Documentary Movement: Engagement with the Social”, The New Chinese
Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record, 17-18.
7
People’s Republic of China in 2017 which legislates the strict requirement on censorship. Thus,
whether a film goes through censorship or not is becoming less valid to determine a film’s
independent status. For example, Jia Zhangke is considered an independent director, but many of
his films passed the censorship system. As independent filmmaking continues, some qualities of
these kinds of films are recognized and repetitively emphasized by independent filmmakers and
scholars. Thus, these qualities of independence are becoming another standard to recognize
independent films.

Thus, how to categorize these films that have qualities of independent films but go through
censorship becomes an important question in the thesis. Some scholars have renamed independent
films as “alternative films” in order to emphasize the feature of presenting an alternative
perspective of the society and the history of the country that are different from films of state-run
companies and organizations.
16
However, the meaning of alternative films does not adequately
clarify the relationship between independent films and commercial film market. Since 2010, the
commercial film market has been thriving in China. In 2010, the Chinese box office first exceeded
100 billion RMB and kept increasing by 100 billion RMB per year until 2017.
17
The booming film
market provides independent films with both opportunities and challenges. Comparing to the
shrinking market of independent films under the strict censorship, the general film market in China
is expanding. Thus, many independent films and their directors are adapting to the commercialism
of the film market. In order to do so, they have to face challenges from the censorship system and

16
Paul Pickowicz and Yingjin Zhang, From Underground to Independent: Alternative Film Culture in Contemporary
China, Asia/Pacific/Perspective (Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), 2-3.
17
Jingjun Pang, Annual Report on Development of China ’s Radio, Film and Television (2011) (Beijing: Social Sciences
Academic Press (China), 2011), https://dlib-eastview-
com.libproxy2.usc.edu/browse/book/reader/24399/start?searchText=%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1.
8
competition from commercial movies. The complicated relationship between independent films,
censorship, and the commercialism of the film market is not fully depicted by the term “alternative
films”. Thus, the thesis will use quasi-independent films to describe their qualities of portraying
alternative narratives as well as their involvement with commercializing film market and the
censorship system.

What are quasi-independent films? An analysis from Li Yang, a professor of film theory at the
School of Arts of Peking University, gives a close answer to the question in general. He put
forward a similar idea of “new independent cinema,” stating that,
“(New independent cinema is) privately funded, sometimes by foreign
organizations, and (it) generates publicity through screenings at international film
festivals. … In many cases, their works are commercially viable in spite of the fact
that they do not pander to consumer tastes. (In the new independent cinema,) the
periphery and the center are no longer static players trapped in a binary stalemate;
they are immutable forces locked in ever-changing forms of conflict and
compromise. (A director who participate in making new independent cinema) is
trying to strike a balance between the market, and the system, and the self,
ultimately attaining a new vantage point from which to observe Chinese society.”
18

The statement notices new development conditions of Chinese independent films where the
conflict between new independent films, the censorship system, and the commercial film market
are not the only outcome that results when these three factors confront with each other. Instead,
the three displayed an ability to reconcile with each other which allows them to remain in dynamic
balance where new independent filmmakers can observe the society from their own perspectives.
By negotiating with the state and the commercial film market, new independent films are flexibly
moving between the world of old independent films, which are usually marginalized by the public

18
Yang Li, “The New Filmmakers Redefining Chinese Independent Cinema,” trans. Owen Churchill, Sixth Tone, June
4, 2018, http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sixthtone.com%2Fnews%2F1002398%2Fthe-new-filmmakers-redefining-chinese-
independent-cinema.
9
media, and the primary domestic film market. This flexible feature of new independent films helps
keep the dynamic balance between new independent cinema’s qualities as independent films and
commercialism of the film market. Although the statement emphasizes new independent cinema’s
capability of working within the commercial film market, which is also an important point in the
thesis, the term “new independent cinema” suggests these films are a type of independent film. By
giving a different term “quasi-independent films”, I attempt to avoid discussing whether films that
keep features of independent films while working with the commercial film market are
independent films or not. Additionally, analyzing quasi-independent films will help answer
questions, such as what qualities make these kinds of films different from “old” independent films
while at the same time still being considered as “independent” films, how the balance between
commercial factors of films and the qualities that marked an identity of independent films is
maintained, and why these films are changing. .

Although quasi-independent films are consistently adjusting themselves by working with the state
and the commercial film market, it is still negotiating with the two factors in order to reserve their
fundamental qualities of independence, and thus, they are usually categorized as independent films
whenever they are mentioned by media or film-related critics in China online and offline. How are
the qualities of these types of films summarized? First of all, quasi-independent film is not the
same as commercial movies, although its content, narrative forms, ways of popularization, and
screening forms sometimes display the characteristics of commercial movies. In most cases, quasi-
independent film has its own ways of shooting and distribution. Unlike commercial films, quasi-
independent film does not seek primarily to make a profit. Secondly, in order to protect directors’
independence to the highest degree, these kinds of films are always low-budget films. Directors
10
shoot quasi-independent film to convey their ideas rather than fulfill the market’s interest. Thirdly,
the production of quasi-independent film approaches to director-centric production where directors
are given relatively adequate independence to give their thoughts and observation of the society in
the film they direct. Fourthly, instead of satisfying the mass audience, the size of the audience who
are interested in quasi-independent film is limited because rather than shooting something that is
widely accepted by the society, the approach to the kind of film always shows an alternative
perspective or the director’s point of view about the society with realistic narrative methods and
aesthetics. Fifthly, because of the former four qualities, a quasi-independent film is usually
exhibited in film festivals. Also, some theaters will selectively screen quasi-independent film after
some of the audience get to know the film through film festivals. Currently, some theaters are
willing to screen quasi-independent films, and the media may choose to use independence as a
point of attraction while advertising. Last but not the least, in terms of content of quasi-independent
film, compared to commercial movies which always have certain shooting routines, such as
dramatized plots or using specific genres, quasi-independent film’s content, themes, and narrative
structures usually use aesthetics of reality and even pursue a documentarian style of shooting. This
kind of film usually contains subjects that are related to marginalized people and things. Thus,
quasi-independent film is sometimes so realistic and critical that they can expose alternative or
absurd, phenomena in the society. Some discussions about the social phenomenon in quasi-
independent films are beyond the cognitions of the mass of people. Thus, these kinds of films are
sometimes seen as avant-garde films.

The structure of the paper will first thoroughly analyze the background of the emergence of quasi-
independent films. The next section will explain the procedures of SARFT, which is the leading
11
bureau in China that controls the censorship. This section will give a background about how the
censorship system works, especially how specific processes influence the production of quasi-
independent film. The analysis will show that although the censorship procedures are still very
severe, the arbitrariness and ambiguity of the operation of censorship provide possibilities for
independent directors to display social realities, which are sometimes about sensitive topics,
outside of dominant discourse propagated by the government. It analyzes whether the common
thought that blames the censorship system whenever the production of an independent film
confronts an obstacle is reasonable or not.

In the next sections, the paper will analyze three cases, director Xin Yukun’s Wrath of Silence
(2017)
19
, director Hu Bo’s An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
20
, and director Wen Muye’s several
independent short films and Dying to Survive (2018)
21
. Xin Yukun’s film shows that quasi-
independent film can use disguise and other strategies to work with censorship and gain success
in the box office. In the case of Hu Bo, the paper will discuss a production system of quasi-
independent film. It will identify a controversial phenomenon between the production of quasi-
independent film and the production system of commercial movies and argue that the conflictive
binary is a primary challenge to the development of quasi-independent film. The section of Wen
Muye discusses Dying to Survive, which is a commercial movie. The director has inherited his
experience of previously being an independent filmmaker to now producing a commercial movie.
His background as an independent filmmaker has enhanced his capabilities in directing the
commercial movie. Also, the “independent” qualities from the director's short independent films

19
Yukun Xin, Wrath of Silence, n.d., https://www.dnvod.tv/play?id=S9yknYs84YP.
20
Bo Hu, An Elephant Sitting Still, n.d., http://www.twoeggz.com/movie/9967408.html.
21
Muye Wen, Dying to Survive, n.d., https://www.dnvod.tv/play?id=ZrCVzMr88WA.
12
contributed to the success of his commercial movie. Wen’s example will help interpret features of
quasi-independent film and its potential to benefit the development of commercial movies into a
quasi-commercial movie. The section will show the importance of quasi-independent film by
arguing that independent qualities which quasi-independent film retain are dynamically playing an
important role as a critical factor of success of commercial movies.

After carefully analyzing the three cases, the paper is going to demonstrate that although
censorship keeps strictly interfering independent filmmaking while the commercial film market is
becoming a strong competitor, by adjusting to being quasi-independent film, independent films
are able to survive on balance between the censorship system, the commercialization, and their
qualities of independence. Quasi-independent film is not a concrete concept. Its form and contents
are shifting, and they are flexible in the commercial film market and the censorship system. It helps
position contemporary independent films in the sphere of the censorship system while at the same
time navigating these kinds of films’ position that overlap with the sphere of the commercial film
market. Thus, by adjusting to the quasi-independent film, concepts of contemporary independent
films are changing. Every independent film may customize its position within the sphere of quasi-
independent film. Thus, one of the most accurate descriptions of the contemporary independent
film may be their dynamic status quo as quasi-independent films.

The Emergence of Quasi-independent Films

Reconciling with the censorship and the commercial film market is a solution that is used by the
quasi-independent films to resist the suppression of screening and distribution of Chinese
independent films. Chinese independent films are also known as underground films or shadow
13
films
22
which have not passed censorship and as such cannot enter a public theater to screen or be
distributed in any legal form. Thus, independent film festivals were the most important places for
these films to be seen. However, since 2011, independent film festivals were shut down one by
one by the government, which dramatically decreases the chances of distribution of independent
films by implementing stricter surveillance from SARFT on the films. Take the biggest three
independent film festivals- Beijing Independent Film Festival (BIFF), China Independent Film
Festival (CIFF), and Yunnan Multi Culture Visual Festival (Yunfest)- as examples. In 2011, the
officials canceled the original location of the opening ceremony of BIFF. Li Xianting, one of the
main organizers of the festival, moved the event to his home yard.
23
One year later, the film
festival had to be transferred to another screening place again because the electricity was cut off
by local officials. Planning and preparation for BIFF continued in full swing until late August in
2014 when authorities shut it down completely. Similar things happened to the other two main
independent film festivals. In early 2013, one of the earliest Chinese independent film festivals,
Yunfest, was banned by the authorities even though the festival took place in Dali, a less central
city in Yunnan province.
24
Also, in 2012, CIFF, which was held in Nanjing, was cancelled by the
government
25
As the government shut down three biggest Chinese independent film festivals one
by one, the space for independent filmmakers to screen their works was consequently reduced.
According to Zhang Xianmin, a professor from the Literature Department of the Beijing Film

22
Pickowicz and Zhang, From Underground to Independent, 2-3.
23
Cui Weiping, “Beijing Independent Film Festival Closes Three Times (Bimu Sanci De ‘Beijing Duli Yingxiangzhan’),”
The New York Times, China, September 3, 2012, https://cn.nytimes.com/culture/20120903/cc03cuiweiping/.
24
Welle (www.dw.com) Deutsche, “Who Kill Yunfest? (Shui ‘E’sha’ Le Yunzhinan Jilu Yingxiang Zhan),” DW.COM,
September 4, 2013,
https://www.dw.com/zh/%E8%B0%81%E6%89%BC%E6%9D%80%E4%BA%86%E4%BA%91%E4%B9%8B%E5%8D%9
7%E7%BA%AA%E5%BD%95%E5%BD%B1%E5%83%8F%E5%B1%95/a-16730068.
25
Zhang Xianmin, “China’s Independent Films’ ‘Demolishing’ Year (Zhongguo Duli Yingxiang 'Qiangchai Nian"),” The
New York Time Chinese, May 16, 2013, https://cn.nytimes.com/film-tv/20130516/cc16filmfestival/.
14
Academy, the period from late 2012 to early 2013 was the “demolishing” year for Chinese
independent films.
26

The action of shutting down the film festivals shows officials’ refusal to diversify means of film
distribution in order to manage cultural products. Only films with a public-releasing permit, a
dragon seal issued by SARFT, can be screened in a theater. The permit is rarely given to
independent films because these films usually contain sensitive elements that are not allowed by
SARFT. This incompatibility between the censorship system and independent films encourages
many indie films to participate in international film festival and exhibitions abroad in order to
show their films because attending film festivals is not controlled as strictly as screening
domestically by SARFT. However, in 2017, with the implementation of China’s new film law,
only films that have the dragon seal are able to participate in international film festivals, which
used to be a relatively free space for independent films to gain reputation in foreign countries
before entering the domestic market. Under the new law, independent films have no way to
completely avoid the censoring processes as long as these films plan to screen in public.

Under these circumstances, many senior independent directors, like Jia Zhangke and Wang
Xiaoshuai, and younger independent filmmakers are seeking ways to work with the censorship
system. Simultaneously, exploring the commercialization potential of independent films is also an
active strategy that is used by many indies to support and distribute their films, as the officials
negatively interfere with their attendance to film festivals and exhibitions. Therefore, working with
but not totally obeying the censorship system and the commercial film market is vital for many

26
Zhang.
15
independent films to relieve pressures that would otherwise have resulted in the decline of this
kind of film. Because of the facts related to the censorship system and the commercialism have
caused changes in independent films, quasi-independent film is not the same as traditional
independent films which reminded people films that did not go through the censorship process. In
the following section, I will analyze the functions and procedures of SARFT in order to analyze
the possibilities for quasi-independent film to adapt to the censorship system.

SARFT

The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
27
(SARFT) is the most crucial institute
in the film censorship system, even though it is not the only organization involved. In order to
clarify the development conditions of quasi-independent film in China’s domestic film market, I
will elaborate on the functions of SARFT and other factors that influence film censorship in China.
With the new film law that came out on March 1
st
, 2017, I will separately explain some crucial
changes on specific procedures of censorship to argue against the common worry that the strict
censorship system will lead to a decrease of production and distribution of independent films. By
examining specific censoring processes, I will argue that besides challenges that censorship brings
to the development of independent films, ambiguities and arbitrariness still exist in the practice of
censorship, which provides opportunities for these kinds of films to exist as quasi-independent
film, which can work with the censorship procedures. I will divide the film production process into
the production sector, which includes film production and film distribution, and the exhibition

27
From 2013.3 to 2017.4, SARFT was renamed to Film Bureau, State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio,
Film and Television. SARFT has similar responsibilities and authorities with Film Bureau, State Administration of
Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Thus, I will not compare and differentiate them and will use SARFT in
the whole paper.
16
sector in order to explain how censorship works, and the opportunities and challenges quasi-
independent film faces in each sector.
• Production Sector
The most critical censoring procedure in film production is related to the public-releasing permit,
which is issued by SARFT. Only films with the permit can enter a domestic theater. Questions
remain surrounding how and on what basis permits are issued, or why some films are unable to
receive permits. This sub-section will demonstrate that standards of issuing a public-releasing
permit in the production sector are subjective and ambiguous. Despite creating some confusion
among independent filmmakers and causing them to keep testing the limits of censorship, this
arbitrariness and ambiguity give quasi-independent film opportunities to negotiate with censors to
get a permit.

Different censorship procedures apply to films from different sources. Films that are co-
productions face a more complicated process than domestic and imported films. There are three
kinds of co-produced films based on the film law, namely 1) films that are co-financed and jointly
produced by Chinese and foreign companies with sharing of benefits and risks; 2) assisted
production, which refers to films that are solely financed by foreign companies and shot in China
with financial assistance from the Chinese companies in the provision of equipment, facilities,
locations, labor and etc.; and 3) commissioned production, which refers to a film that is
commissioned by the foreign side to be made in China by the Chinese side.
28
Restrictions on the
first kind co-production are such that the number of foreign actors cannot be more than two-thirds

28
China Film Co-production Corporation and Motion Picture Association of America, “Co-Production Handbook,”
accessed March 2, 2019, https://www.mpa-i.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Co-
production_Handbook_Chinese.pdf.
17
of the total.
29
Also, only the first kind of co-produced films are considered to be in the domestic
films category, which is not managed by laws of China’s imported films. Quasi-independent film
in China that has overseas support belong to the first kind of co-produced films according to the
three articles above. Thus, I will explain the process of censorship solely based on rules of domestic
films.

There are several steps in the censorship process before the issuing of a public-releasing permit.
According to SARFT’s official website,
30
whether the local film bureaus or the headquarters of
SARFT takes charge of the censorship of a film depends on different situations. A complete film
should firstly be registered with SARFT, which will then submit the film to the related bureau.
The bureau will turn over the film to an operative office that has the authority to review content,
themes, and other aspects of the film and give its opinions about the film. The bureau will then
review the opinions with other related bureaus or organizations, giving their feedback to the film.
For example, if the film is related to women’s rights, the bureau may invite representatives from
the All-China Women’s Federation to join the censorship meeting. Their suggestions will then be
transferred back to the registration office of SARFT, which will review the summarized
suggestions, and then the president or vice president of SARFT will decide whether the film should
be allowed to have a public-releasing permit.

There is an authorized committee within SARFT with the highest rights to decide whether a film
can have a screening in public or not. The committee is composed approximately of 36 people

29
China Film Co-production Corporation and Motion Picture Association of America. China Film Co-production
Corporation and Motion Picture Association of America, “Co-Production Handbook.”
30
“SARFT,” accessed May 12, 2019, http://www.nrta.gov.cn/.
18
from all kinds of cultural industries. Its opinions on whether a film can organize a screening
publicly are most valued, but little public information about the group of people is known. For
instance, Zhao Baohua, a relatively active member in the committee, once disclosed opinions from
the committee on Ning Hao’s No Man’s Land (2013), commenting that the film had nothing
positive and thus could not be released until it was modified based on the logic of the committee.
31

Therefore, the release date of the film in domestic theaters was delayed for four years after the
original edited version of the film was modified five times in order to meet the committee’s
requirements. After the modification, the final version of the film deleted all bloody scenes and
plots that were potentially related to violence, such as the killer’s hammer, added narrations to blur
the original themes with negative elements in the film, and revived the policeman who died in the
original version. This example suggests that the system of censorship is subjective in many aspects
rather than objectively relying on related legal terms because the processes of modification of the
film primarily rely on opinions from the limited number of people on the censorship board. After
a film successfully passes the entire procedure, it will receive a public-releasing permit issued by
SARFT, meaning the film has the legal rights to be screened in a public theater. The procedure
seems to regulate the censorship process precisely; however, many details are negotiable in the
law while implementing it. For instance, SARFT is not the sole bureau that has the right to make
a decision. Many provincial bureaus, such as Beijing Film Bureau, are authorized with the right to
censor a film. If there was a film that was accepted by an authorized bureau but at the same time
was refused by the headquarter of SARFT, would it be considered as having a permit to participate
in a public screening event, such as attending a film festival? The following sub-section will

31
Sina, “Sina Talk: Committee Member Zhao Baohua: No Man ’s Land Has Never Been Banned (Duihua Shenpian
Weiyuan Zhao Baohua: Cong Mei Qiangbi Wurenqu),” accessed March 4, 2019, http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-
12-04/01214054218.shtml.
19
illustrate these questions by giving several examples. Also, it will continue to clarify the censorship
process in the exhibition sector to analyze the ambiguity and arbitrariness underlying the
censorship processes.

• Exhibition Sector
Before the new film law, there was no specific law in the old film regulations which legally
stipulated that films that go to international film festivals or exhibitions need to have a public-
releasing permit from SARFT before being exhibited, although having the permit before leaving
for an international film festival was often required in practice. This requirement that asks a film
to have a SARFT permit before they can exhibit in film festivals was officially added to the new
film law as code no.22.
32
Filmmakers have to obey this law in order to avoid being punished.

On the surface, the strict censorship of film production and exhibition seems to restrict themes of
films and means of distribution to the utmost degree. However, implementation of censorship is
another story. For example, prior to the shutdown of BIFF, CIFF, and Yunfest’s, many films that
screened in these film festivals did not include the dragon seal from SARFT at the very beginning
of the film. Thus, although having a public releasing permit from SARFT is an obligation in order
for films to be screened in public, how to obtain the permit, when to apply for the permit, and
whether having a permit guarantees a screening in a public theater was uncertain.

32
“Film Industry Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China,” accessed March 2, 2019,
http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/xinwen/2016-11/07/content_2001625.htm.
20
The standard of censorship differs from films to film. Take Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin (2013)
for example. It is a banned film; however, the film initially passed the censorship by the Beijing
Film Bureau. Thus, the director sent the film to the Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival, which
was organized in Taiwan. However, after gaining a big success, the film got attention from the
headquarters of SARFT, which refused to issue a public releasing permit for the film. Thus, A
Touch of Sin became a film that has passed censorship from an authorized branch of a culture
bureau but was banned by the headquarters of SARFT.
33
A similar case that shows the arbitrariness
of the censorship system is the film Lost in Beijing (2007) directed by Li Yu. The film passed
censorship, but a version of the film that was not sent to the censorship process was exhibited at
the Berlin International Film Festival. It violated regulations of SARFT, but instead of punishing
the director, the production company, Laurel Films Works was restricted from producing films for
two years. Interestingly, director Li did not receive any penalty that she “deserved” according to
film regulations. Additionally, due to obscene scenes in the modified version of the film, which
was initially received a permit, it was also banned after several screenings, showing that having a
permit from SARFT does not necessarily guarantee the screening of a film in a theater. A similar
thing also happened to Feng Xiaogang’s Youth (2017). The film was originally scheduled for
screening in October 2017; however, in September, there were rumors that the rights to screen the
film might be revoked and its premiere might be delayed. Although director Feng denied the rumor,
the public releasing day of the film was eventually postponed while the final version screened
domestically was twelve minutes shorter than the version that attended the Toronto International
Film Festival.

33
Berry, Interview Jia Zhangke.
21
Before the new film law, having a public releasing permit before attending a film festival was not
absolute. For instance, Feng Xiaogang’s film I Am Not Madame Bovary (2016) won the Golden
Horse Award for Best Director before receiving the permit, although SARFT reissued a permit
when it was screened in domestic theaters. After the implementation of the new film law, however,
films must have a permit in order to have the chance to receive an award at any film festival.
Director Xu Xiaoyan, for example, announced to withdraw her film Unaware Control (2017) from
the 41st Montreal World Film Festival because the film did not have a permit. Zhang Yimou’s
One Second (2019) is another example. Observers in the media conjectured that the reason for the
film to be withdrawn from Berlin International Film Festival was that it did not pass censorship,
though the director stated that the reason was related to some technical issues which obstructed
the film’s exhibition. Legally, a rough-cut version of a film can participate in a film festival. The
period from sending a film to the festival to the film’s exhibition can be used to make a final cut
of the film and apply for the permit from SARFT. If the period is too short for directors and editors
to finish the editing and receive a permit, it is not wrong for the film’s director to announce
technical deficiency. After all, censorship is one of the biggest issues that affect films’ attendance
in film festivals and distribution in public. Therefore, briefly analyzing the mechanism of the
censorship system in the following sub-section is essential. It helps better understand the
limitations of censorship, which are its subjectivity and ambiguity.

• Limits of Censorship
The relationship between censorship and quasi-independent film is very complicated. Examining
the legal procedures alone is not enough to understand why some films are banned while others
are not. Indeed, these kinds of films have an intensive relationship with censorship; however, I
22
argue that this tension fluctuates between intense and more moderate levels such that the officials
always do not lose their control over quasi-independent films while the independent filmmakers
constantly try their best to seek for independent self-development. For example, during the new
documentary movement
34
, a lot of great directors like Zhang Yuan, Wang Xiaoshuai, Lou Ye, and
Jia Zhangke actively sought independence in their filmmaking. After 2010, the process of holding
independent film festivals within China was increasingly arduous, showing the increase of tension
between Chinese independent filmmaking and censorship from SARFT. Among BIFF, CIFF, and
Yunfest, the latter two have not reopened until today and it seems unlikely that they will be able
to reopen. Only BIFF successfully cooperated with Cinema on the Edge in New York, which
screened many excellent films from past BIFF festivals between 2012 and 2014. From 2015
onwards, BIFF has resumed its events, and some new film festivals that support independent
filmmaking, such as Ping Yao International Film Festival (PYIFF), have emerged, demonstrating
that the censorship system and national film festivals have started to find ways to work with each
other. National film festivals that survived from strict censorship have abandoned the more
sensitive word “independent” from their names and replaced it with “international”. For instance,
the First International Film Festival (FIRST), which has been held successfully from 2006 till now
in order to support young filmmakers, regularly screens many independent films. In 2017, the
launch of the newest film festival, PYIFF, by independent director Jia Zhangke also showed the
gradually cooling down of tension from the censorship, although an article from the New York
Times stated that PYIFF was testing “the limits of independence”
35
by accepting independent films

34
It was a movement started from 1980s when groups of filmmakers shot documentaries outside of the state
studios. Berry, Lü, and Rofel, The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement.
35
Steven Lee Myers, “China’s Newest Film Festival Tests the Limits of Independence,” The New York Times,
November 2, 2017, sec. Asia Pacific, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/world/asia/china-film-festival-
censorship.html.
23
that could potentially have sensitive contents. Ironically, beginning in the challenging period in
2011, when domestic independent film festivals started to be closed, to 2015, when BIFF attempted
to restart, there have been news reports which claiming that 2015 was a “big year” for independent
films to gain public-releasing permits from SARFT. The article, 2015, Independent Film’s “Big
Year,” listed statistics that showed independent films were earning good box office in theaters.
36

It is reasonable to regard the “big year” as a hint that the government is gradually directing
independent films into the system while independent films are seeking for acceptable ways to
coexist with the system after being violently interfered with by SARFT. Fundamentally, the
question is how to locate the limit of censorship and independence.

In order to analyze the question of the limits of censorship, Ying Liang’s case and Jia Zhangke’s
case form a representative comparison. Ying Liang is an independent filmmaker who thinks that
allowing his film to take part in the censorship process is the no different than having an investor
financially oversee his filmmaking, both of which will obstruct the freedom of a director.
37
In 2012,
Ying made his most famous film, When Night Falls (2012), a documentary-style independent
feature film which questioned the trial of an ordinary Chinese citizen Yang Jia that happened in
Shanghai in 2008 from the perspective of Yang’s mother. The media published very few reports
about the facts of Yang’s case. Based on the limited information in the media, the film created a
story that criticized the opaque judgment process of Yang’s case. Ying Liang was sued by the

36
Alice, “2015, Independent Film’s ‘Big Year’ of Having the Dragon Sign and Enter Circus, Chances Coexist with
Challenges (2015 Duli Dianying De ‘Da’nian’- Na Longbiao Jin Yuanxian Jiyu He TIaozhan Bingcun),” Mtime,
December 21, 2015, http://news.mtime.com/2015/12/18/1550417-all.html.
37
CK, “A Chinese Young Director Ying Liang’s Two Films are Rewarded Abroad, But cannot be Screened in the
Domestic (Zhongguo Nianqing Daoyan Ying Liang Liangbu Dianying Zai Haiwai Huojiang Que Weineng Zai Guonei
Shangying),” Radio Free Asia, May 21, 2007, https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/yingliang-
20070521.html.
24
police as a result of the film and was expelled from China. He was allowed to stay in Hong Kong,
and generally makes films in Taiwan. A possible reason for Ying’s expulsion was that topics of
the film were directly related to a social event that still adversely affects the society, and the story
in the film refers explicitly to a real case that can remind audiences of the unfairness of the trial
after watching the film. By contrast, although Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin also referred to events
that happened in reality, the film initially passed censorship from Beijing Film Bureau, which
regarded news that was related to the stories in the film were already known to the public and thus,
the film would cause less negative impacts. In the end, the film was banned by the headquarter of
SARFT which announced that because there were similar cases that were currently happening in
the society, SARFT thought publicizing the film would lead to more similar crimes and thus,
although the film had the chance to be screened in the future, SARFT thought that it was not an
appropriate time to screen the film in the public at the moment.

The comparison of the two examples leads to the conclusion that clarified one of the determinants
of whether or not a film is censored depends on how and to what extent the film reflects subjects
that still have an adverse effect in the current society. The limit of censorship is determined
arbitrarily and subjectively by cultural bureaus, such as SARFT. It also means that independent
directors can adjust or disguise their films’ potentially sensitive factors based on their
interpretation of the limit of censorship and negotiate with SARFT in order to increase possibilities
of passing censorship. It indicates that the relationship between quasi-independent films and the
censorship system is not always antagonistic. Strict censorship does not destroy the potential and
possibility of films to pursue their own independence. On the contrary, after 2010, the number of
25
quasi-independent films that are screened in public theaters and are seen by the masses is
increasing, as many of these films have obtained public-releasing permits.
38

As quasi-independent films, whether it can retain qualities of independence that are helpful to
explore and maintain an alternative way for independent films to adapt to the pressure from the
commercializing film market and the strict censorship system primarily defines its success. In the
following section, I will give an example of Xin Yukun’s film, Wrath of Silence, to analyze how
the director balance the commercial factors in the film while reconciling with SARFT in order to
continue to protect his own independence of filmmaking.

Xin Yukun’s Case

Traditionally, independent films are facing two main troubles, namely, the lack of audience and
the lack of screening spaces. The lack of audience reflects a disconnect between the type of films
and audiences’ needs. Also, this shortage is related to the lack of distribution spaces of which the
development is mainly obstructed by censorship. Generally speaking, in order to survive and
develop, the conflicting relationships between commercial factors, political factors and
independence are critical issues that will be analyzed in this section. Like Zheng Kuo, a young
independent director who gained fame in 2010 with his documentary 798 Station (2010) said,
“(Chinese independent films) need to use commercialized culture and propaganda culture rather
than simply fighting with them.”
39

38
Alice, “2015, Independent Film’s ‘Big Year.’”
39
Jinjing Xu, “Studio Research| Alternative Films- Interview Zheng Kuo (Pianchang Diaoyan| Lingyizhong Dianying-
Zheng Kuo Fangtanlu),” Souhu, April 17, 2017, http://www.sohu.com/a/134601564_711855.
26

I argue that quasi-independent film, as a result of changes to independent films, uses
commercialization as an effective way to solve its contradiction with film market and censorship,
as commercialism gives directors more possibilities to screen their works in less risky and illegal
ways while at the same time receiving a decent amount of revenues. Director Xin Yukun, who
started his career as a director in 2014, is an excellent example to analyze how to commercialize
quasi-independent films in a way that can attract audiences and earn more positive feedback from
the commercial film market. In the following sub-sections, I will analyze how Xin’s films
reconcile with the censorship system and commercialism of the film market while simultaneously
retaining their qualities of independence.

• Director Xin Yukun
In 2014, Xin released his first feature film The Coffin in the Mountain (2014

)
40
(Shortened as “The
Coffin” below) at the FIRST. He received the best feature film and best director awards and was
then nominated by Golden Horse Awards. The film rescued the director’s career based on his own
words that if the film had not been successful, he would not have a second chance to make films.
One of the most important reasons behind his success was that he knew when to compromise with
the censorship system and the commercial film market, and when to adhere to the qualities of
independence. For example, when the film applied for the public releasing permit, the director
agreed to change the original name into Deep in the Heart in order to pass censorship. At the same
time, Xiu protected many essential factors of independence in the film. It was a low-budget film
with only 170,000 RMB funding, and was shot in only 24 days; however, it earned 10 million in

40
Yukun Xin, The Coffin in the Mountain, n.d., http://chinese.videoess.com/watch.php?vid=4fb51c501.
27
the box office because of its suspenseful plots and multi-linear narrative approach. The film was
about a group of poor farmers, and a homicide case that happened in a marginalized rural village
which had lax legal management. Thus, the content of the film matched the quality of
independence due to its focus on marginalized subjects. Also, the film used a documentary-style
shooting technique to achieve an aesthetic of reality. These factors of independence become an
attraction point to audiences. Importantly, Xin Yukun as a director, positioned himself as an
independent filmmaker after the massive success of his first film.

His spirit as an independent filmmaker is also indicated in his second film, Wrath of Silence (2017).
When director Xin made the film, many big production companies wanted to invest in the film.
However, he eventually chose Bingchi Lab, a small program that gave young directors more
freedom to film what they wanted to film as the film’s producer, and FIRST, a film festival that
aimed to support new directors, as the exhibition platform. Clearly, Xin understood the unspoken
rules of the film industry in which big investors would take over a film by seizing the directors’
filmmaking autonomy, especially that of young directors who had not gained enough authority in
the field. Thus, Xin Yukun refused the money from big companies and their proposal to make his
second film as a sequel to his first film by using similar narrative approaches in order to guarantee
income. Xin foresaw the unsatisfying economic result of Wrath of Silence. Compared to his first
film, the second film was a failure with only 47.83 million RMB in the box office whilst spending
a budget of 20 million RMB. However, in an interview with CBN weekly, Xin replied that he did
not make films solely for audiences nor for the box office, instead, he insisted on making “Xin
Yukun” films which told a good story in his own way and helped expose concealed social
28
realities.
41
Rather than a blockbuster, a good film with just enough funding and box office was
Xin’s ideal status to make his films.
42

• Wrath of Silence
Although Xin released Wrath of Silence after The Coffin, it was the film that he initially wanted to
make. When Xin made The Coffin, he lacked funding sources. Thus, he reduced some sensitive
contents and connotations in the film while making the storyline more complicated and introducing
more suspense into the plot in order to decrease the risks of economic failure. After the success of
his first film, he no longer faced a lack of funding. He then started to make Wrath of Silence, the
film he initially wanted to make. This second film dealt with more sensitive and realistic social
problems. I will focus on analyzing Wrath of Silence in order to show how the film’s contents and
connotations reconcile with the censorship system in order to guarantee its release and how it
contains the potential for success in the commercial film market.

Wrath of Silence tells a story of a mute father Zhang Baomin, who saved the daughter of a lawyer
while looking for his son Lei Zi, the lawyer Xu Wenjie, who provides perjury for a boss named
Chang Wannian, and the boss who killed Lei Zi and kidnapped Xu’s daughter. The three people
chase after each other because Zhang has information about the lawyer’s daughter, the lawyer has
evidence that can send boss Chang to jail, and Chang kidnaps Zhang. The storyline is simple, but
the ending is profound. At the end of the film, nobody found the son. In one scene that suggests

41
Yuchen Ye, “Wrath of Silence Confronts High Reputation, Low Box Office, Xin Yunkun Said, ‘I Foreseen This.’ (Bao
Lie Wu Sheng Zaoyu Gao Koubei Di Piaofang, Xin Yunkun Shuo: Zhe Zai Yuqi Zhong),” CBNweekly, April 13, 2018,
https://www.cbnweek.com/articles/normal/20801.
42
Xuming Wan, “How to Make the Young Director’s Second Film? Xin Yunkun: Rip off the Tag and Control Desires
(Nianqing Daoyan Dierbuxi Zenme Pai Xin Yunkun: Sidiao Biaoqian Kongzhi Yuwang),” People.cn, April 7, 2018,
http://media.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0407/c40606-29909940.html.
29
the death of Lei Zi, the lawyer’s daughter wakes up and meets the son, and then, they leave the
mine hole together, climb on a barren hill, and see the concrete jungle of the city gradually
encroaching farms and natural lands. In the following scene, the lawyer finds his daughter’s body.
Then, audiences suddenly know that it was the girl’s spirit that came out from her body to meet
the boy’s spirit, showing that the boy has already died while his father was still searching for him.
Audiences only have a hint from an indistinct picture on a brick wall drawn by a butcher’s little
son with chalk, which implies that boss Chang’s hobby, archery, accidentally killed Lei Zi when
Chang was trying to shoot Lei Zi’s sheep, and the lawyer helped to hide the boy’s body.

Boss Chang likes eating hot pot lamb slice and collecting wild wolf specimens. A wolf is a trope
to Chang, while sheep is a metaphor for miner Zhang and his son. With the story and its characters,
Xin is apparently conveying his message that workers and other subalterns, including their kids,
are a group of “silent sheep” who have no voice in society, and whose destiny and tribulation is to
not be taken seriously by anyone or any organization, including the police, who only show up
twice in less than 30 seconds with the one sentence question, “Did you offend someone (so that
your enemy kidnapped your son)?” By contrast, the lawyer’s daughter was rescued. In the end, Xu
Wenjie, who represents the social class that have their voice heard in the public, and Chang
Wannian, who represents the social class that is economically empowered, are arrested and
sentenced for five years not because of the murder but because of illegal mining and perjury,
showing the powerlessness of the police and the ineffectiveness of the authority system on
influential individuals. Finally, the lost son and the miner Zhang Baomin are doomed to become
victims entirely. The film tells a story of how cities are eroding nature, how people who live in
more developed areas exploit people in poorer areas, and how subordinates are “eaten” by people
30
in positions of authority under the supervision of the contemporary legal system. As Xin says, “(I
want to) let ordinary people see their position in the society through the film”
43
; ordinary people,
who are like the miner, are unsafe in the contemporary society.

The last ten minutes of the film is a set of excellent montage cuts. In these scenes, the police are
interrogating boss Chang and lawyer Xu. Cameras are shifting between Chang’s trial room, Xu’s
trial room, the rural area where Zhang Baomin continues to look for Lei Zi, and memory of Chang
and Xu who are having a conversation about buying sheep from a boy to practice archery. Through
the memory, audiences can speculate how Lei Zi died even though both Chang and Xu deny their
crime in the trial scene. Then, the camera points at Zhang Baomin who is standing in front of a
barren hill and then close up to his face with an expression of hope and worry, showing Zhang
does not know his son is dead. Next, the director gives a long shot. The figure of Zhang becomes
a black spot compared to the large hill, which explodes in front of Zhang’s eyes. Even though
Zhang cannot speak, the erupting rocks from bottom up are speaking out his anger loudly. After
the last scene, the director’s name shows in the middle of the screen in a black background. The
director’s name would be the end of the film if not for the add-on scenes, which appeared in the
next few seconds after the name of the director. Images reappear like an add-on ending, where a
butcher asks his son to have lunch. The boy is drawing a chalk picture, which is about two men
shooting a boy who is surrounded by sheep. The butcher looks at the painting, and his facial
expression shows that he has some new clues about the death of the boy from the picture. After
this, there is a sentence which says “The police expanded their investigation based on the new
report, Xu Wenjie and Chang Wannian (boss Chang) was eventually arrested, but Zhang Lei (Lei

43
Ye, “Wrath of Silence Confronts High Reputation, Low Box Office.”
31
Zi)’s body has not been found”. The sentence shown at the very end of the film is useless to the
plots, contents, or themes of the film. It is like an add-on insurance that is beneficial for the film
to pass censorship. This end of Wrath of Silence is a camouflage which guarantees a higher
possibility for the film to eventually be legally released in a theater because of the insurance
sentence which shows that the police successfully brought the criminals to justice, leading the film
to its “real” end. It is reasonable to think that the add-on ending is a disguise that gives the film
more guarantee to pass censorship. Many other films which contain sensitive content also use the
strategy of insurance sentences. For example, in the film The Coffin, a similar kind of sentence
showing the justice of the law is in the final frame as an add-on narration. In Dying to Survive, a
film about how leukemia patients cannot afford a particular medicine and die because of corruption,
the director applied the same kind of insurance sentence. Sometimes directors cannot avoid
including sensitive contents, and cannot include “positive” values that are appreciated by the state
in their films in order to not ruin the development of the plot. Thus, using insurance sentences is
an effective way to convey a positive value in a film while at the same time maintaining the original
plot and themes of the film, which shows how the top social class deprives the rights of ordinary
people and the police ignores these groups of citizens.

Wrath of Silence includes many sensitive factors. Take plots about the police as an example. The
image of the police should be depicted carefully, as it can easily become sensitive in a film. For
example, SARFT banned Ning Hao’s No Man’s Land because the film described the police as
completely useless and ineffective, which casts a negative influence on the image of the national
police system according to SARFT committee. The police in Wrath of Silence also disappears,
leaving the village in the film a marginalized position where no justice works. Also, the film
32
reminds a large number of people of their susceptible position in reality by exposing the
ruthlessness of the empowered social class. Thus, Wrath of Silence has many sensitive contents
that directly relate to real society. Why did it not cause any adverse reaction from SARFT?

Based on the analysis of SARFT section, the arbitrariness and ambiguities in the process of
censorship helped ensure the public release of the film. First of all, the film does not refer to any
specific social event in reality and thus, even though the film exposes the darkness of the society
which affects a large number of people, the film will not threaten national stability and social
harmony based on the logic of censorship as I analyzed in the section on SARFT. In terms of the
issue of the police, the film applies an insurance sentence. No matter how unnatural the sentence
seems, at least on the surface, it disguises the original message about the incompetence of the
police in the content of the film. Last but not least, Xin uses many tropes and metaphors to organize
sensitive plots to increase the diversity of possible interpretations of those plots. With the film’s
suspense plots, the insurance sentence at the end, and the multi-meanings of the themes, the film
provides many possible ways for various audiences to interpret it. For example, it can be a film
with a suspense genre. It also makes sense if some audiences interpret the film as that it shows
criminals eventually cannot escape from the justice of the police regardless of how hard they try.
However, the real message that Xin wants to convey through the film is related to a tension
between subalterns and empowered authorities and the ineffectiveness of the police, which he has
confirmed in an interview, where he said that he wants to make films for various kinds of
audiences
44
and show how the uncertainty of security can happen to any ordinary person in reality.

44
Ye, “Wrath of Silence Confronts High Reputation, Low Box Office.”
33
Thus, Wrath of Silence was able to pass the censorship and received a public releasing permit from
SARFT.

• Genre in Xin Yukun’s Film
Xin Yukun’s two films, The Coffin and Wrath of Silence, are examples of how quasi-independent
films fit into a genre, a typical feature of commercial films, in a way that is different from
commercial movies. Genres make Xin’s films more attractive to audiences and increase the
possibilities of having a decent box office after releasing the films in a theater.

According to Cinema Genre
45
, commercial films fit into different genres. Genre is used to reduce
unprofitable risks and help popularize commercial films. Audiences are guided by genre to choose
what kind of films to watch. The film industry summarizes some fixed patterns of content and
themes of films that already have a large number of audiences. Films that follow these patterns are
more likely to guarantee a high viewership. Several examples of specific genres are gangster films,
action films, war films, horror films, and suspense films. Emphasis on storytelling is an essential
characteristic of genre films. Take a suspense film, Detective Chinatown (2015) as an example.
The film is a typical genre film that is popular with many audiences. It focuses on putting forward
the plots of finding the killer in a murder case. The Coffin and Wrath of Silence are also suspense
films but, unlike Detective Chinatown, they are not solely genre films because instead of just
focusing on suspense plots, these two films also place an emphasis on giving audiences an
insightful analysis of real society.

45
Raphaëlle Moine, Cinema Genre (Malden, MA ; Blackwell Pub, 2008), 2.
34
In Wrath of Silence, Xin used the form of suspense genre to show contents of real social problems.
The film is not about who is the murderer; instead, it exposes unequal relationships between the
subalterns and authorities in the current defective legal system through the telling of the suspense
story. When Xin Yukun packages the content of cruel social reality in the form of the suspense
genre, it is easier for the production company to advertise the film and attract the audiences who
are fans of this genre by saying that this is a suspense film. In this sense, Xin did an excellent job
to reconcile his film with commercial movies. Additionally, when the two kids, the son and the
daughter, climb on the hill and suddenly see a large city, the frame is frozen there for a few seconds,
showing the concrete jungle in the upper half of the frame and barren pasture in the bottom half.
This scene depicts the meeting between the spirit of the lawyer’s daughter and the spirit of Lei Zi,
and the view of the half-city and the half-ruined countryside have an effect of magic realism, which
is an important part in the film as a narrative approach. It not only tells audiences the story of the
death of Lei Zi but also shows the destroyed rural areas to express the director’s concerns regarding
uninhibited modernization. The surrealistic scene accurately reflects the social reality of the
urbanizing country. In addition, the factor of magic realism is also a big attraction to audiences
who like this genre.

Xin is not the only independent filmmaker whose films partially fit into some genres. Jia Zhangke’s
A Touch Of Sin used the crime and martial arts film genres.
46
His The Ash is the Purest White
(2018) used gangster film genre. Jia admitted that he liked using genre in his films.
47
Genres in
quasi-independent film are not superficial and purely for commercial purposes. These films keep
their qualities of independence rather than letting genres harming their identity as quasi-

46
Berry, Interview Jia Zhangke.
47
Berry., Interview Jia Zhangke.
35
independent films by focusing on giving more insightful thoughts about reality rather than
following commercial movies’ way to fit into genres for recreational purposes. Like Wrath in
Silence, many independent films have packaged themselves with commercial aspects that allow
them to appear politically correct in order to enter commercial theaters. Fundraising issues and
issues of being controlled by the censorship system are faced by any film in China. Ignoring or
antagonizing those issues only lead to fewer audiences and less screening spaces. Thus,
experimenting with commercializing films in a clever, if not sly, way is an effective strategy that
helps many quasi-independent feature films co-exist with the current social system in China,
especially after 2011 when SARFT was shutting down many independent film festivals and strictly
censoring all film festivals.

Hu Bo’s Case

There are two kinds of independent directors. Independent directors who already have a strong
reputation domestically or internationally can afford to ignore their films’ profitability because the
box office is not their primary source of revenue or the only reflection of the value of their films.
These directors have constructed their brand by acquiring appreciation from critics and audiences
who have gained authority in the field of film. For instance, the sixth-generation directors all fit
into this category. Take Lou Ye, who has proved his talent as an independent director since 1990s
and is famous in many European art theaters, for example. Even though none of his films can be
screened in mainland China, he is still financially independent to make films as he is able to receive
foreign funding to support his filmmaking. By contrast, independent directors who have not
obtained enough reputation are not able to ignore box office in order to maintain their career as
independent filmmakers. As for the second situation, Xin Yukun is one example. This section will
36
analyze director Hu Bo’s case to demonstrate that independent filmmaking is part of a hierarchical
industrializing production system which threatens independent directors who belong to the second
situation. The threat, instead of coming from an outsider, such as the severe censorship system,
emerges within independent directors with the formation of the production system of quasi-
independent film. This section argues that rather than following or even being dominated by the
production system of commercial movies, the operation of the production system of quasi-
independent film needs to balance the commercial film production and a system that benefits
explicitly to the production of quasi-independent film, in order to positively influence the
development of independent filmmaking.

• An Elephant Sitting Still
An Elephant Sitting Still exemplifies a primary contradiction when production system of quasi-
independent film imitates the mode of the production system of commercial movies. The film was
made by a young director named Hu Bo and produced by a production company called Dong Chun
Ying Ye, which is run by Wang Xiaoshuai who is a famous independent director. Hu Bo has an
unresolvable conflict with his production company after the company took the film’s authorship
from the director. The most direct conflict between Hu and Wang’s production company happened
when the company asked Hu to cut the film into two hours. Hu Bo, as the film’s director and
screenwriter, he should keep authorship and right of shooting the film in his way. Wang Xiaoshuai,
as the producer, could give his suggestions. Some people think that Hu was too stubborn to accept
Wang’s advice about cutting the four-hour version of the film into a projectable length. From the
film’s contents, theme, and aesthetics, this sub-section will analyze the importance of keeping the
four-hour version.
37

An Elephant Sitting Still is Hu’s first and last feature film. Its style of storytelling can be compared
with Jia Zhangke’s Xiao Wu (1997), both of which focus on the main character who is wandering
on the street and whose life temporarily overlaps with other characters. The main plot tells a story
about Wei Bu, a schoolboy, running away from the local gangster Yu Cheng, whose younger
brother, Yu Shuai, is accidentally killed by Wei in school. During the escape, the film gradually
introduced stories of other characters as well as rendering the grim and decrepit social atmosphere
in the northern city where the story takes place. Yu Shuai consistently bullied Wei Bu’s classmate
Li Kai, who eventually takes an act of violent revenge by shooting Yu Cheng with a gun in order
to prove his strength. The gangster, who breaks up with his lover, has an affair with his friend’s
wife, which causes the friend to commit suicide. The teenager girl Huang Ling, who is liked by
Wei and who comes from a low-income family with a violent disabled father, is involved in a
scandal where there are rumors about her having a sexual relationship with her teacher. The rumor
ruins both the girl’s and the teacher's lives. Wei Bu’s helper, an elderly man who is kicked out to
a nursing house, is accompanied by his dog but the dog was bitten to death by another dog, and
the elderly man was assaulted by the owner of the other dog when he seeks an apology for the
death of his dog. The four characters unite because of their wish to see a sitting elephant in a
nearby city. At the beginning of the film, Yu Cheng is retelling a piece of news about the elephant,
“Do you know? I read from a report. There is a sitting elephant in the nearby city. People watch it,
maybe stick it with forks.” The news easily arouses the curiosity of Wei Bu, Huang Ling, Yu
Cheng, and the elderly man. They wish to break away from their boredom and depravity. Thus,
the four people decide to travel to see the elephant. But eventually, their tour bus is broken in the
middle of the trip. In the last scene, the four people get out of the bus in a dark and foggy no man’s
38
land. The sitting elephant, which is a metaphor of the only thing that intrigues the four people in
their life, is roaring from nowhere in the darkness, like an absurd fantasy that is permanently
covered by the diffusing desperation in the northern city.

The whole tone of the film is grimy and dull. In the film, Hu Bo chose to simplify the storyline in
order to emphasize the melancholy atmosphere and sentimental emotion by slowing down the pace
of the plots and using freeze frames. The contents of the stories are de-dramatized and realistic in
that they are derived from the director’s observation in the real world. Hu Bo’s camera is a
documentarian’s camera which calmly records the daily life of the characters. Also, his ability to
control the pace of the plot and his choice of weaving together different storylines shapes a unique
sense of aesthetics in the film such that the sad and dull plot obtains an astounding and remarkable
effect that turns the whole film into a preposterous drama. Besides the endless gloom that pervades
the content and the theme, the unusual length allows audiences to physically experience the eternal
despair in the film. Audiences sit in the dark for four hours, watching the characters’ unchangingly
dull and degrading life pass every day and the disillusionment of the visit to the elephant, which
is the only source of their passion. The four-hour length not only enhances audiences’ feeling about
the difficulty of tolerating the deep melancholy in the characters’ daily life but also facilitates an
immersive experience while watching the film. Therefore, Hu Bo’s persistence of keeping the four
hours is not capricious, instead, this length reserves the integrity of his film while ensuring a
matchless watching experience for the audience. However, majority of audiences and the film
market still feel that the length of the film is not justified or easily accepted. Thus, when Wang
Xiaoshuai sought to follow the convention of the commercial film industry to produce the film,
the collision between the director and the producer was inevitable.
39

• Director Hu Bo’s Suicide
With the development of China’s film industry, it is hard for making a film to be a completely
individual action; instead, it is more like an industrialized activity compared to situation twenty
years ago. In one interview with Jia Zhangke, he recalled how he made Xiao Shan Going Home in
a college interest group. People in the group gathered together, brought their personal belongings
as resources to make the film, and worked for free.
48
Passion and enthusiasm inspired them to
make the film. This kind of interest-driven filmmaking is much less possible today. As the thesis
previously argued, there is a tendency for independent filmmaking to gradually be absorbed in a
production system that is built by authoritative independent directors, meaning that in some cases,
independent filmmaking itself is becoming a part of a film industry that specifically produces these
kinds of films. For example, production companies have been founded to invest in independent
filmmakers, such as Jia Zhangke’s production company Nuan Liu Wen Hua, and Wang
Xiaoshuai’s film company Dong Chun Ying Ye which invested in An Elephant Sitting Still.
Filmmakers’ roles, like Jia and Wang, are complicated in that as independent directors, they
support the independent filmmaking industry by investing in related programs and supporting
independent filmmakers who are financially scarce; however, as investors, they are hardly willing
to give their investees enough independence to make films, especially when films of these directors
head in the opposite direction of the production company’s commercial profits. The section will
illustrate that this contradiction within the independent production system is a primary challenge,
which has not been discussed as extensively as obstacles faced from SARFT, to independent

48
Andy, “Jia Zhangke’s ‘History of entrepreneurship’: How Did I Film Xiao Shan Hui Jia (Jia Zhangke ‘Chuangye Shi’:
Wo Zenme Paichu Xiao Shan Hui Jia De),” Douban, accessed December 5, 2018,
https://movie.douban.com/review/6482796/.
40
filmmaking. Again, it reveals the importance of keeping the balance between independence,
economic profits, and censorship, especially self-censorship which is always the concern of
independent filmmakers. In the previous section, Xin Yukun was lucky as his films were profitable,
and production companies he chose gave him a high degree of autonomy. In this sub-section, what
happened to director Hu Bo, who was also a new independent director as Xin, reveals a sad
consequence after the balance between independence and the economic profit was broken.

In 2017, Hu Bo brought his film An Elephant Sitting Still to FIRST. Director Wang Xiaoshuai
expressed his interest to invest the script. With seventy thousand RMB from Wang’s production
company Dong Chun Ying Ye, Hu started shooting the film. Wang Xiaoshuai was a producer of
the film. Several months later, Hu finished a four-hour edited version of the film which was two
hours longer than the typical length of films, which is usually between 90 minutes to 120 minutes.
Besides, the director refused to shorten the film to two hours as Wang requested which resulted in
few public theaters willing to accept the version. Things got worse when Hu’s authorship was
taken away by Dong Chun Ying Ye. Because of his experiences, Hu pessimistically repeated that
shooting films was humiliating, poor, and torturing
49
before committing suicide in 2017. Because
of his death, he did not have an opportunity to attend the ceremony at the Berlin International Film
Festival where the film was awarded the Best First Feature. It is still unclear how much Hu’s death
was related to his conflictive relationship with Dong Chun Ying Ye; however, it is indisputable
that the conflict between the director and the production company impeded the director’s
filmmaking. In Hu Bo’s case, Wang thought the film was both art and commodity; however, for
Hu Bo, his film was purely his artwork. Thus, Hu did what he thought best for the artistic qualities

49
Gu Yu Lab, “Hu Bo: The Absent Person,” November 17, 2018,
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2pZfpxdqTIr9zI7QDf4fUQ.
41
of the film, including keeping the four-hour version, while Wang rejected the version because it
was too long to be screened in most domestic theaters, although he was willing to support
independent filmmaking. Wang's dual identity as both an independent film supporter and a
producer was a primary reason why his program that initially intended to support Hu Bo’s
independent filmmaking ended up as an impediment to the film. It is because Wang tried to impose
the requirements of commercial film production on the production of quasi-independent films.

In contemporary China, except for production programs that are operated by people who have been
participating in independent filmmaking, there have been few commercial production companies
that have been willing to take financial risks to invest in quasi-independent films. Those who
practice independent filmmaking have experiences, resources, and confidence to take risks and
support quasi-independent films. Thus, for Dong Chun Ying Ye, it is reasonable to speculate that
a motivation of Wang Xiaoshuai, as a renowned independent director, to run his own production
company and invest films like An Elephant Sitting Still was his positive expectation for the
development of quasi-independent films. However, when Wang was a producer of the film, the
importance of making profits exceeded that of protecting the director’s independence. Ironically,
the production system of quasi-independent film that is founded by independent filmmakers
eventually creates obstacles, which negatively interferes with independent filmmaking.

• Conclusion
Hu Bo’s tragedy reminds people of the importance of balancing profitability and independence in
the realm of quasi-independent filmmaking. The fragile balance which resulted indicates an ironic
phenomenon that has emerged during the early development stage of quasi-independent film
42
production. In this stage, producers like Wang Xiaoshuai followed the production model of
commercial movies such that incompatible factors between the commercial model and quasi-
independent film production system led to the ruin of the latter production system. Thus, not only
does quasi-independent films need to keep negotiating with the commercial movies, the production
system of quasi-independent film also needs to debate with, rather than merely imitate, the
production industry of commercial movies in order to support independent filmmaking. For
example, in Hu Bo’s case, if Wang had not followed the convention of ordinary commercial
movies’ length, he could have better supported Hu’s independent filmmaking while screening the
film to specific audiences. Also, Wang could perhaps have made a profit since the budget of the
film was low if he applied a better production system that did not imitate mode of commercial film
production. A production system of quasi-independent film needs to be separated from the
production system and conventional codes of commercial movies in order to support independent
filmmaking. In Hu Bo’s case, relying on the mode of commercial film production system
obstructed the creation of a production system of quasi-independent film.

Wen Muye’s Case

At the beginning of the paper, director Jia Zhangke’s quote regarding the status quo of commercial
movies and quasi-independent films in China suggests a vision of independent films that intersects
at the balance of commercial and artistic factors. In his vision, a film that attracts audiences while
at the same time maintaining artistic attributes is a delicately designed work with finely-controlled
proportion of commercial factors and artistic factors. As quasi-independent film takes on some
characteristics of commercial movies, some qualities of independence will be relinquished, such
as the parts that are not allowed by SARFT. However, the sacrifice does not impede directors’
43
exploration and pursuit of independence in their films. In addition, in some cases, independent
filmmakers’ experiments in the commercial film market have led to extraordinary results. This
section will study Wen Muye’s successful experiences as an independent filmmaker and later as a
commercial movie director who creates an unexpected hit at the box office with his first full-length
commercial movie, Dying to Survive. Technically, Wen Muye is not an independent filmmaker as
Xin Yukun, Hu Bo, or Jia Zhangke mentioned in the thesis in that he does not position himself as
a full-time independent director. Before Wen’s first commercial movie, he only made several
independent short films after which he went to shoot commercial movies. However, his works
appropriately interpret Jia Zhangke’s statement about the relationship between commercialism and
films as well as illustrating the importance of the balance between commercial factors and qualities
of independence in the development of quasi-independent films.

• Jin Lan Gui Qin
50
(2011), Battle
51
(2012), and Requiem
52
(2014)
Jin Lan Gui Qin, Battle, and Requiem are three independent short films from Wen Muye’s early
works. These films reflect Wen’s emphasis on the aesthetics of reality in his films, his interest in
depicting marginalized realities, and his experience in dealing with sensitive themes as an
independent filmmaker. These qualities were inherited by his commercial movie and resulted in
the success of Dying to Survive later in 2018.

50
Muye Wen, Jin Lan Gui Qin, n.d.,
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av27405308?from=search&seid=12346712909121953786.
51
Muye Wen, Battle, n.d., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JtUQMWzYWM.
52
Muye Wen, Requiem, n.d.,
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av26273092?from=search&seid=9477911427354968706.
44
All three short films are typical independent films. Their contents and themes are related to
marginalized people’s stories that commercial movies rarely paid attention to but are always
discussed in independent films. Also, they all use a documentarian style shooting technique that
shows the aesthetics of reality, which also appears in independent filmmaking. After graduating
from college, Wen Muye shot Jin Lan Gui Qin, which focused on empty nesters, which has become
a critical social issue. The film tells a story about two retired women going out together to pay
their electricity fees. Without proper funding and professional cameras, Wen used DV to shoot the
story. He invited two elderly women who were dancing at a recreational space to perform their
“daily life” in the film. Like many retired people in reality, without anything to do, the only
entertainment for Jin Lan and Gui Qin was watching TV drama. In the film, Gui Qin’s television
was in arrears, so she asks Jin Lan to go out together to pay the bill. Wen recorded the two women’s
journey towards a telecommunications company, showing their lonely life, the small frictions
between them and the warmth of their companionship with each other. The style of the story was
like that of a documentary. It shot the two women’s daily life without any ups and downs; however,
by involving the humorous northeastern dialect in the dialogue, the heavy theme becomes relaxing
and easy to attract audiences. By combining the serious theme of the film and the humorous
conversations, the whole film becomes a serious comedy, showing the director’s ability to touch
audiences’ feeling by precisely controlling the turning point between the two different emotions
of humor and severity in his filmmaking. This real and vivid narration style also contributed to the
success of Wen’s first commercial movie in the future.

One year later, Wen made one of his most famous short films, Battle, which told a story about a
battle between a Muslim father and his son. The father finds a tattoo on his son’s back, which
45
violates the Quran. They have a fierce quarrel. The father, as a devout Muslim, thinks that the
son’s action will send the whole family to hell, but the son wants to be assimilated into the city
and seizes back the right of controlling his own body from Allah by tattooing himself after having
settled down in a big modern city for a while. After the fight, the son runs away from his apartment,
wandering in the city. At night, two policemen show up and ask for the son’s identification card.
They check the ID, use the brightest flashlight to identify the face of the son, and ask questions
about his identity. After being treated like a suspect, the son is still brought away because of his
different and strange appearance. Finally, the son removes the tattoo, as he understands that having
a tattoo does not help him assimilate with surroundings as a minority and a Muslim but only causes
him to lose his true self. This film, like Jin Lan Gui Qin, also deals with a social issue that is often
ignored by commercial movies. However, Battle dealt with religion, ethnic relations, and police-
subaltern conflicts, which are some of the most sensitive topics in China. In the film, the
contradictions between majorities and ethnic minorities, atheists and Muslins, and the police and
subaltern citizens are overshadowed by the conflict between the father and the son. Thus, the film
does not focus directly on sensitive topics. In this sense, Wen shows his courage and ability to
control the degree of sensitivity brought about by his subject matter as an independent director.
Besides, his understanding of censorship and experiences of testing the limits of censorship would
later benefit his commercial filmmaking.

Requiem is Wen Muye’s most recent independent short film. In the film, in order to collect enough
money for his daughter’s surgery, the male character sells his wife’s body to a dead man for them
to conduct a ghost marriage. The story questions the national medical system and ossified legal
system by exposing the inadequacy of medical resources and the shortage of medical insurance.
46
The same problems are also revealed in Dying to Survive, which is an expanded version of Requiem.
Dying to Survive is Wen Muye’s first commercial movie after he transitioned from being an
independent filmmaker, and it integrates all experiences and shooting techniques from his
independent short-films. In the next sub-section, I will use Dying to Survive as an example to argue
that commercialism and quasi-independent film can be reconciled with each other in that the latter
is able to nurture the former and quasi-independent films can also retain their qualities of
independence during the reconciliation.

• Dying to Survive
As many of Wen Muye’s independent short films became well known through international film
festivals, he became recognized by a famous director, Ning Hao, who invited him to join the Bad
Monkey 72 Change Film Project (Huai Hou Zi 72 Bian Dian Ying Ji Hua) to direct a full-length
commercial movie, which is Dying to Survive. Wen Muye took three years to finish the script,
which became a box office hit after screening. The director’s experiences of independent
filmmaking, such as his preference for the aesthetics of reality in the film, the focus on
marginalized subjects, the abilities of controlling the changing pace of the humor and severity in
the plot, and strategies to deal with sensitive topics, make the film a key example to show how the
experiences of independent filmmaking benefit the commercial moviemaking and how qualities
of independence remain and develop in the mode of commercial films.

The script of Dying to Survive was adapted from a real story about Lu Yong, who had chronic
myeloid leukemia. In order to find a cheaper version of his medicine, Swiss Imatinib, to avoid
going bankrupt, Lu smuggled an Indian version of Imatinib which was illegal in China. In order
47
to save others who had the same disease but also could not afford the expensive Swiss medicine,
Lu not only took the Indian version himself but also recommended and traded it to other patients
without making any profit. In 2013, Lu was arrested. Thousands of patients who were assisted by
Lu signed a letter to help prove Lu’s innocence. In the end, the court reduced Lu’s punishment,
and the cost of Swiss Imatinib was covered by national medical insurance after the case. In the
film, the male character, Cheng Yong, who is not a patient but only a dealer of Indian God Lotion
at the beginning of the story, replaces Lu Yong. Initially, Cheng Yong trades Indian Imatinib to
make money. After knowing several patients and their tragedy, he finally changes into a person
like Lu Yong, who sells the medicine at no profit.

The scripting form and the production methods of the film followed modes of commercial movies,
but its contents, themes, and shooting techniques were influenced by the director’s experiences
from independent filmmaking so that the film was different from general commercial movies in
China. The film transformed stories in real society into cinematic plots in order to acquire effects
of aesthetics of reality, which are emphasized in independent filmmaking but ignored by
commercial movies. Wen Muye learned from his independent short film Jin Lan Gui Qin,
continuing to emphasize the aesthetics of reality and pay attention to stories from marginalized
people. It reflects critical social issues in reality and thus is able to create a positive influence on
society. For example, it discusses the limitations of the law and the scarcity of medical resources.
The focus on realistic problems makes the film stand out from many other commercial movies.
For example, letting audiences have fun is often a primary purpose for general commercial movies.
Unlike many commercial films, the meanings of Dying to Survive are more than making audiences
laugh. It is also a reflection of the reality. Thus, although the real story was dramatized in the film,
48
it is still considered a realistic serious comedy about how a clownish man has turned into a hero.
Another important distinction of the movie is that it is a modern hero movie, which is rare in
China.
53
In the film, Cheng Yong is a delinquent smuggler of Indian God Lotion who sells illegal
drugs to leukemia patients but finally turns to be a heroic rescuer to thousands of patients.
Comparing to Cheng Yong, the police is trying to hunt the smuggler down because the drug that
Cheng sells is not on the list of National Medical Products Administration, though the drug is a
cure for leukemia. Wen Muye’s team was worried that a film that justified and sympathized an
illegal behavior while defaming the police would not pass censorship.
54
Commercial movies
always avoid any potential risk related to censorship. However, Dying to Survive finely balanced
the plots and sensitivity. Wen Muye, who also directed the sensitive independent short film Battle,
showed his ability and experiences to film within the limits of censorship. Specifically, the director
carefully controlled the sensitivity of the plots mainly by directing the film into a warm ending
and conveying a positive value. The policeman and the court in the film are sympathetic to the
patients and Cheng Yong. Additionally, in the end, an improvement of the national medical
insurance system is shown. Also, comedic elements in the former part of the film, like the clownish
appearance of Cheng Yong as a loser when he shows up in the beginning of the film, neutralizes
the severity in the plot, creating a balance between humor and seriousness such that the film is
acceptable to mass audiences.

53
Chris Berry, Postsocialist Cinema in Post-Mao China: The Cultural Revolution after the Cultural Revolution,
(Florence, UNITED STATES: Routledge, 2004), 88-93,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=182895.
54
Sina Recreation, “Wen Muye: A Born Director (Tebie Qihua Wen Muye: Tiansheng Yao Zuo Daoyan De Ren),”
Sina, accessed April 6, 2019, http://ent.sina.com.cn/original/qihua/yaoshen/index.shtml?vt=4.
49
• Conclusion
As a commercial movie that was produced under a producer-centric system, Dying to Survive has
been compared with Hollywood film Dallas Buyers Club (2013).
55
Dallas Buyers Club was
produced by several small independent film production companies and Focus Features, which is a
subsidiary of Universal Pictures that likes producing low-budget movies and non-Hollywood style
movies.
56
Thus, Dallas Buyers Club, in terms of its funding sources, content, styles, and director-
centric production process, is more like an independent film than a commercial movie.
57
By
contrast, Dying to Survive, whose contents happen to be similar with Dallas Buyers Club, is a
commercial movie according to its producer-centric production process, funding sources, and
distribution methods, although it has some qualities and characteristics of independence and thus
is considered analogous to Dallas Buyers Club, an independent film. This reveals an irony where
a movie that is made as a commercial film is trying to acquire some qualities of independence and
this cooperation between commercialism and independence finally provides a blockbuster to
China’s commercial film market and brings a huge success in the box office. Wen Muye’s example
not only indicates commercial movies’ potential for improvement when they take advantages of
certain qualities of independent films but does also confirm that the essential qualities of
independence can be retained in the process of commercial film production. The relationship
between the production of commercial movies and the preservation of qualities of independence
shows a reconciling property between commercialism and independence. This compatibility is

55
“Hit Film Spurs China to Import Indian Anti-Cancer Drugs,” BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific; London, July 12, 2018,
http://search.proquest.com/docview/2068338360/citation/3C5807106AD24B25PQ/1.
56
Dallas Buyers Club (2013), accessed May 23, 2019,
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dallas_buyers_club_2013.
57
The article on Business Insights talked about the low-budget, the short shooting time, the style of the film, etc.
These show qualities of independent films. “Business Insights: Essentials,” accessed May 23, 2019,
http://bi.galegroup.com.libproxy1.usc.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA352040080?u=usocal_main.
50
beneficial both to the development of quasi-independent films and commercial movies in
contemporary China. Also, it shows that qualities of quasi-independent film, which refer to its
abilities to work with censorship and commercialism of the film market, are able to benefit
commercial moviemaking.

Conclusion

This paper has analyzed how quasi-independent film has adapted and retained qualities of
independence, whilst balancing between strict censorship and commercialism of film market in
order to preserve their own space. After studying Xin Yukun, Hu Bo, and Wen Muye’s cases, the
paper has identified a relationship between commercialism, censorship and quasi-independent
films, that is, making quasi-independent films is not solely an artistic and creative pursuit; rather,
it tends to be involved in a production system of quasi-independent films where the efforts to
balance the independent filmmaking, commercialism of film market, and the limits of censorship
are as important as the works themselves. Based on Xin Yukun’s case, which demonstrates that
commercial factors, such as the application of genres which not only attracts audience but also
help to obscure more sensitive elements in the film, benefit the continuity of quasi-independent
filmmaking, Hu Bo’s case, which shows the detrimental influence of breaking the balance, and
Wen Muye’s case, which exemplifies how qualities of independence can contribute to commercial
movies’ success, the paper argues that rather than having a solely antagonistic relationship with
the commercializing film market and the censorship system, quasi-independent films can actually
remain and develop better when the production system of quasi-independent films protects the
balance.

51
Quasi-independent film helps describe the position of contemporary independent films, which are
situated in the sphere of the censorship system while at the same time having to navigate an overlap
with the sphere of the commercial film market. The practice of this type of film is dynamic in these
spheres while at the same time protecting their own core space for the qualities of independence.
Quasi-independent film has to work under the conditions of encroachment from the strict
censorship process as well as pressure from the thriving commercial film market. Employing some
experiences and elements from commercial movies to take advantages of the flourishing market is
also a solution for independent filmmaking to deal with obstructions from SARFT and the
commercializing tendency. As long as quasi-independent films are seeking ways to compromise
with the commercialism of the film market, they spontaneously start to rethink their previously
antagonistic relationship with SARFT, from which the reconciliation between quasi-independent
films and SARFT becomes possible. Thus, quasi-independent film’s compromise with the
censorship system and its compatibility with the commercialism of the film market increase their
flexibility to a great degree. One of the most concrete descriptions of the contemporary
independent film may be their dynamic status quo as quasi-independent films.

Traditionally, a key feature of independent films was their rebellion against the forms and content
of the national propaganda on media.
58
Thus, until the early 21st century, independent films often
did not enter into the censorship process. Economically, independent filmmakers relied on private
investment or foreign funding. Thus, they were financially dependent on domestic investment but
politically independent from the government, which underscores their subversive functions to the
state film censorship system and the mainstream media. Furthermore, as can be seen from their

58
Lü, “Rethinking China’s New Documentary Movement: Engagement with the Social”, The New Chinese
Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record.
52
name, independent films are autonomous from censorship and the commercializing film market.
Overseas media typically refers to these types of films as “underground films,”, while Chinese
scholars and directors usually refer to them as “independent films.”
59
Also, personal films, avant-
garde films and films made by the sixth-generation directors are generally associated with
independent films.
60
Although there has not yet been a consensus on how to refer to these films,
the various names all reveal an incompatible relationship between independent films, censorship,
and commercialism, and thus, some scholars, such as Cheng Jian and Chris Berry, have
emphasized the antagonistic relationship in their definitions of independent films. Other scholars
used the term “alternative films” to stress on the content of independent films’, which are different
from films made by the state.
61
However, none of these terms have emphasized the tendency of
independent films to compromise with the censorship system and the commercialism of the film
market under the shifting political and economic environment.

This thesis tried to give a new term, quasi-independent films, to emphasize the adaptation of
independent films to the censorship system and the commercial film market. The thesis argued
that contemporary independent films have explored a distinctive way to maintain and develop their
qualities by reconciling with censors and commercialism. Thus, they are not independent films in
a traditional way; rather, they are becoming quasi-independent films. This change is a choice in
the current political and economic context since means of distribution of independent films are
dramatically shrinking with the shutting down of the film festivals and the implementation of the
new film law. Besides, it is also an effective way to develop independent films. Although there are

59
Pickowicz and Zhang, From Underground to Independent., 2-3.
60
Pickowicz and Zhang., From Underground to Independent, 3.
61
Berry, Lü, and Rofel, The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement, 12.
53
scholars and filmmakers have recognized the tendency of compromise between Chinese
independent filmmaking, the commercial film market and the censorship system, the number of
articles and books that focus on analyzing this trend and how it developed has been limited. For
example, professor Li Yang used “new independent films” to emphasize the commercially viable
feature of contemporary independent films.
62
Extending beyond the concept of new independent
films, quasi-independent film underscores the question of whether independent films that reconcile
with censorship and the commercial film market can be considered to be independent. Should
expand the scale of independent films by incorporating films that contain some qualities of
independence, like quasi-independent films, into the field of traditional independent films? How
do we define the new scale of independent films? Through the discussion of the three cases, we
have gone some ways toward answering these questions. Still, these issues need further analysis.

In fact, in terms of the development of quasi-independent films, the number of audiences and
theaters that accept this kind of film is still limited, as compared to the distribution of commercial
movies. For example, in 2015, director Wu Feiyue and poet Qin Xiaoyu screened their independent
documentary The Verse of Us. Before the screening, they could not find a public theater willing to
screen the film, although it was screened at several international film festivals and even received
some awards. As a result, Wu and Qin had to start a crowdfunding campaign in order to show the
documentary to the public. The example indicates the continued challenges in development of
quasi-independent films, even as it seeks to work with the commercial film market and the
censorship system, both of which have not cultivated a high tolerance to many independent films.
Thus, the fate of quasi-independent films is still not entirely resolved.

62
Li, “The New Filmmakers Redefining Chinese Independent Cinema.”
54

At the end of 2016, Wu and his co-workers founded a platform called Elemeet, which continues
to use strategies of crowdfunding to help screen quasi-independent films. Elemeet allows
audiences to upload and share their preferences about films and screenings, donate money for the
screening, and organize the number of offline screening events based on the needs and tastes of
audiences. The formation of such business helps us to envision a possible future of quasi-
independent films. Many films on the platform fit into the category of quasi-independent films,
which means that the films have passed the censorship process and some of them are commercially
feasible in theaters. Although the number of audiences is not a lot compared to audiences of
commercial movies, quasi-independent film is attracting people through technology such as
Elemeet, which gives these kinds of films more chances to be seen. In this way, independent
directors’ concerns about lack of audiences and screening spaces, barriers from the production
system of quasi-independent films and scarce revenues sources will be partially resolved.

Also, the kind of platform is able to provide some insight on the question of whether quasi-
independent film is independent given that it relies on the commercial system and the state to some
extent. The future that is envisioned by Elemeet does not put pressure of income on directors or
production companies; instead, it encourages audiences who share similar tastes and interests in
films to advertise, distribute, and screen the films that they like. Thus, the crowdfunding method
provides quasi-independent films with an alternative to satisfy their investors and production
companies, besides going to commercial theaters and having a hit at the box office,

55
In conclusion, the future of quasi-independent films, as an adaptive version of Chinese independent
films, is shifting, but their reconciling tendency with commercialism and the state allows them to
balance qualities of independence, the censorship system, and the commercial film market. By
balancing with commercialism and censorship, quasi-independent film is creating more
development opportunities for independent films as they are able to find their place among
censored films and commercial movies beyond the world of independent films. The quasi-
independent film also makes concepts of independent films more flexible by deconstructing the
traditional standard of defining independent films as films that did not go through the censorship
process. The concept of independent films has become more fluid. In this sense, Chinese
independent films will continue to survive in different forms. Quasi-independent films is becoming
one important alternative form of independent films.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Chen, Yanjin (author)

Core Title Quasi-independent films: an adaptation of Chinese independent films

School College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program East Asian Area Studies

Publication Date 08/07/2019

Defense Date 08/06/2019

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag adaptation,Hu Bo,independent films,OAI-PMH Harvest,Wen Muye,Xin Yukun

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Chio, Jenny (committee chair), Bernards, Brian (committee member), Choe, Youngmin (committee member)

Creator Email cqchenyanjin1994@gmail.com,yanjinch@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-208864

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