"true lies"followed quickly，opening in beijing on april 20，and eventuallybringing in 102million yuan nationally ，a total succeeded in subsequent yearsonly by the massive success of "titanic"in 1998.although forrest gump ，the secondamerican import in 1995，was a relative failure ，almost all the hollywood importsin 1995and 1996were successful at the box office，as can be seen in table 1.（24）
table 1
box office receipts for american "megafilms"（dapian）in china （1994-2000）
film title production company/distributor box office in china：renminbi（millionyuan ）
1994
the fugitive warner brothers 25.8
1995
true lies united international pictures （uip ）**102.0
forrest gump uip 19.6
the lion king disney 41.3
speed 20th century fox 37.8
bad boys columbia tristar 32.8
die hard 3edko 47.0
1996
outbreak warner brothers 32.6
a walk in the clouds fox 20.5
the bridges of madison county warner brothers 39.5
broken arrow fox 50.5
waterworld uip 34.0
toy story disney 31.8
jumanji columbia tristar 47.7
twister uip 54.5
the rock disney 47.7
mission impossible uip 45.1
1997
sabrina uip 20.0
eraser warner 45.8
courage under fire fox 25.0
space jam warner 24.1
dante's peak uip 47.6
jurassic park ：the lost world uip 72.1
speed 2fox 30.4
1998
batman and robin warner 20.0
volcano fox 17.8
titanic fox 359.5
daylight uip 15.9
home alone 3fox 40.2
deep impact dreamworks/cj 51.3
saving private ryan uip 82.3
1999
rush hour new line 25.0
mulan disney 11.0
enemy of the state disney 22.0
star wars ，episode 1：the phantom menace fox 33.0
tarzan disney 11.0
entrapment fox 29.0
2000
the matrix warner brothers 17.0
stuart little sony 20.8
double jeopardy uip 15.0
the general's daughter uip 21.0
mickey blue eyes polygram 6.0
u571canal+/summit***
dinosaur disney
gladiator uip
mission impossible ii uip
source：interviews conducted in china.*one u.s.dollar is equivalent to around8.2chinese yuan（rmb ）
**uip distributes films for universal，paramount and mgm.***u-571was releasedby universal in the united states but was distributed abroad by canal+/summit.
it was clear that imported films had become essential to the survival of thechinese film industry.already by 1994，imports had brought china film 60percentof its $12million revenue.total box office receipts in the first half of 1995jumped 50percent over the same period a year earlier ，and summer attendance attheaters in beijing had increased by 70percent.moreover ，the success of theimports carried over to domestic releases ；the crowds were beginning to returnto chinese cinemas.（25）
the market "matures"：highs（"titanic"）and lows （bans and low profits）amid continuing uncertainties
hollywood's successes
despite a variety of administrative measures aimed at controlling unbridledmarket forces ，imported films have taken a majority share of the chinese market.one well-placed interviewee in the chinese film bureaucracy suggested that the tenimported revenue-sharing films occupied 70percent of the market，leaving the remaining30percent for the 100or more domestic films.the problem the chinese governmentfaces stems ，in large part，from the contradictions noted in the introduction.the chinese film industry cannot survive unless filmgoers in relatively large numberscan be enticed to pay their own way into a theater to watch domestic films.yetthe film industry in china represents far more than a means for entertaining thepublic.film，as lenin pointed out long ago，is essential for building supportfor the government and properly socializing chinese citizens.politics and commercetherefore have often collided in the 1990s.unless the government has taken draconianmeasures -for example，the outright bans on american films and/or film studiosdiscussed below that left no recourse -film industry professionals have generallybeen able to skirt official regulations that interfered with market forces.whenmarket forces have not been impeded ，hollywood films have been most successful.when administrative regulations have been most forcefully implemented ，hollywoodfilms have been denied market share.
one important example of the government's efforts to control the market is the"regulations on the management of films ，"issued as document no.200by the statecouncil on may 29，1996，after it had become clear that chinese films couldnot compete with imported films without governmental support.article 45of theregulations mandates that at least 2/3of the total time given to exhibiting filmsin theaters must be reserved for domestic films.theater operators，however，haveroutinely violated this regulation.（26）
hollywood's domination of the market is of course a recent phenomenon.beforethe opening of china's film market to imported megaproductions the public's knowledgeof foreign films came primarily from old movies seen on television and on video ，as well as from stories in newspapers and magazines.the explosion in knowledgeabout the outside world since 1995，particularly in the area of popular culture，has been remarkable.a good example of this can be seen in the changing popularityof film stars in china over the past five years.tables 2，3and 4provide surveydata on the most popular foreign and domestic film stars.table 2comes from a surveyconducted by horizon survey company and beijing youth daily in may 1995.the surveywas entitled "the world in the eyes of the chinese"and asked 1，050respondentsin five major cities to compare foreign countries with china on a range of measures.one question asked participants to list their favorite foreign movie star.although74actors were listed ，the largest number of respondents -44.8percent of thesample -gave no response.of the top ten names on the list ，seven were americansor foreign actors who had become world famous as a result of their american films，showing hollywood's influence even before the large influx of imported theatricalfilms.there were also two japanese and one frenchman on the list.looking moreclosely one is struck by how many of the actors were no longer working，or in somecases even living.although sylvester stallone came at the top and arnold schwarzeneggercame in eighth -"true lies"had opened shortly before this poll -virtually allthe other names on the list ，including the non-americans，had been popular inprevious decades.
table 2
most popular foreign film stars in china（five major cities ，may 1995，n=1，050）
film star percentage
sylvester stallone（u.s.） alain delon （france） marilyn monroe（u.s.） charlie chaplin （u.s.） ingrid bergman（sweden-u.s.）
7.7% 7.0% 4.7% 4.0% 2.7%
yamaguchi momoe （japan ） shirley temple（u.s.） arnold schwarzenegger （u.s.） vivien leigh（u.k.-u.s.） takakura ken（japan ）
2.3% 2.0% 1.5% 1.3% 1.3%
source："zhongguo ren yanzhong de shijie ，"in horizon research company andstate statistical bureau，eds.，guancha zhongguo （observing china ），（beijing：gongshang chubanshe，1997），p.39.
tables 3and 4come from a more recent survey of junior and senior high studentsin five coastal cities，conducted from july-october 1999.table 3asked the studentsto list their favorite international film star.hong kong and hollywood dominatethe list.hong kong superstar jackie chan is the clear favorite of the students.however ，since "rumble in the bronx"was re-edited for the american market in1996，he has become widely known in north america as well.indeed，recent filmssuch as "rush hour"and "shanghai noon，"both widely seen in china ，have madehim a hollywood star in his own right.of the top fifteen names on the list ，fiveare hong kong actors and eight are hollywood actors.chow yun-fat and jet li，ofcourse，have also made the move to hollywood.
table 3
favorite foreign movie stars of high school students（junior and senior high，five coastal cities ，july-october 1999，n=1，589）
film star percentage
jackie chan （h.k.） arnold schwarzenegger （u.s.） sylvester stallone（u.s.） leonardo dicaprio （u.s.） chow yun-fat（h.k.） tom cruise（u.s.） maggie cheung （h.k.）
18.6% 8.1% 7.0% 6.3% 6.2% 5.2% 4.4%
steven chiau（h.k.） vivian leigh（u.s.） jet li（h.k.） alain delon （france）kashiwabara takashi（japan ）kate winslet（u.s.）tom hanks （u.s.）gene kelly（u.s.）
3.4% 2.6% 2.2% 2.0% 1.6% 1.4% 1.2% 1.2%
source：xun cool yidai （looking for the cool generation ），horizon researchreport，beijing，december 15，1999，p.57.
table 4is from the same survey and lists the most popular domestic movie starsof the high school students.the results are of interest for several reasons.first，the number of students who had a favorite domestic film star is far lower than thenumber who had a favorite international star.the fifteen names on the list of internationalstars total 71.4percent of the student responses ；the fifteen names on the listof domestic stars total only 26.1percent.this strongly suggests that the largemajority of the students surveyed do not have a favorite domestic film star ，andthat they greatly prefer films made outside china to those made on the mainland.a closer look at the list in table 4reveals even more strikingly the seriousproblemsfaced by china's film industry.of the top five names on the list -representingalmost half of all student votes for "domestic"（guonei）film stars -three arefrom hong kong（gu tianle ，steven chiau and jackie chan ）and one is from taiwan（yu xiaofan）。www.11665.CoMmoreover ，even the one bona fide mainland star on the list -zhao wei -made her reputation as the star of an enormously popular television seriescalled huanju gege rather than as a film actress.indeed，several other names onthe list -for example taiwan actress lin xinru and taiwan actors su youpeng andchen zhipeng -also became well known as a result of this television series （althoughsu and chen had also been popular as part of a singing group）。the series itself，a fanciful tale that takes place in the qing emperor's household，was written bytaiwan writer qiong yao and has been criticized on the mainland for distorting chinesehistory.it is only in sixth and seventh place on the list -at 1.6percent of thevotes -that one finds certifiable mainland film stars ge you and gong li.the chinesepress has frequently noted the inability of mainland stars to compete ，even inchina ，with their hollywood and "greater china"counterparts.one report notedthat china's "box office superstars are pitifully few in number ，"suggesting that"gong li stands alone ，as her screen lovers are invariably unhandsome ，'ugly，'or 'jokester'stars."the report concludes，somberly ，that another famous chineseactress ，ning jing，"also stands in lonely isolation ，because she does nothave a male partner who is a young and skilled actor；many of her screen loversare handsome 'foreign devils'."（27）
table 4
favorite chinese movie stars of high school students（junior and senior high，five coastal cities ，july-october 1999（n=1，589）
film star percentage
zhao wei（mainland） gu tianle （h.k.） yu xiaofan（taiwan） steven chiau（h.k.） jackie chan （h.k.） ge you（mainland） gong li （mainland） wang yan（mainland）
4.5% 2.3% 2.2% 2.0% 1.9% 1.6% 1.6% 1.5%
liu pei （mainland） lin xinru （taiwan） chen zhipeng（taiwan） shu qi（h.k.） su youpeng（taiwan） jet li（h.k.） zhang fengyi（mainland） zheng yijian（h.k.）
1.5% 1.4% 1.2% 1.1% 0.9% 0.8% 0.8% 0.8%
source：xun cool yidai （looking for the cool generation ），horizon researchreport，beijing，december 15，1999，p.57.
hollywood's influence and success can also be seen in the vast changes in theavailability of popular literature about american films and film publications moregenerally.high-gloss film magazines with far better production values than theiramerican counterparts now introduce the latest hollywood films and movie stars eachmonth ，selling out quickly on newsstands.dianying shijie （english title ：themoviesshow ）and kan dianying zuopin（english title ：movie view ），publishedin changchun，jilin province and chengdu ，sichuan province respectively，arewidely considered the best of these new publications.each issue comes with a fullcolor poster of a recent american film and is filled with enticing visuals，statisticaldata and the latest information （and gossip）on hollywood personalities.it wouldbe difficult to publish such an opulent film magazine in the united states becauseof the prohibitively high production costs.these more recent publications，sellingfor 10yuan （less than $1.25），have taken over a substantial part of the marketfrom more traditional film magazines，such as the venerable dazhong dianying（popular cinema），now struggling to reinvent itself and expand its coverage ofhollywood product in order to compete.
popular cinema was first issued on june 16，1950and has long been one of thebest-selling periodicals in china.although it was closed down from 1966-1979，as were virtually all "reader-friendly"magazines because of the "cultural revolution，"by 1981the circulation for each issue was again in the millions.in some places，local post offices had to impose a quota system to limit the number of subscribers.（28）popular cinema was also well known for sponsoring the annual "one hundredflowers film awards".started in 1962，this award gave movie fans all over thecountry the opportunity to vote for their favorite films and film stars.at itsheight the issue that carried the ballots for the award had a circulation of 9.6million copies.as late as 1989，a record high 2.3million ballots were collected.
