The New York Times has a fascinating and foreboding look at the state of Chinese cinema this summer which was overloaded with World War II blockbusters heroizing Chinese resistance to Japan, and inspiring raucous, patriotic responses in Chinese movie theaters.
Altogether, Chinese studios have produced more than 300 movies about what is known in the country as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Such dramas tend to earn the approval of Chinese censors. And they are well received by the public, especially those angered by Japanese politicians who deny that the imperial army committed wartime atrocities or who visit the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo — which honors Japan’s war dead, including war criminals.
Read it all here.