Political cinema in China

The purpose of this study is to explain how the renowned Chinese film director Xie Jin is using gender as a means to explore and signify political change in China. The choice of this particular director lies in his career span which covers over four decades. He has directed almost thirty films, which were made during different periods since the 1950s, and reflect the political calamities that have tormented China throughout all these years. Our point of departure will be Xie Jin himself and the so called Xie Jin model as an innovative cinematic style. The main body of the study will be the analysis of five of Xie Jin s films(Woman Basketball Player No5, The Red Detachment of Women, Stage Sisters, The Legend of Tianyun Mountain and The Herdsman)which are quite representative of his work and were directed during different periods. Our main concern will be to explain the use of gender in every film, in relation to the political situation of the time and to make a comparison between the films analyzed and the different periods in terms of political change.