Can China Make Movies More Than Flying Kung Fu Warriors?

Chinese movies have helped me to understand China and its people; they reflect their hopes， their fears， their traditions， their views of their own world，… but they are also valuable in themselves and provide a complete different view of the world to foreign eyes.The first Chinese movies I watched when I was a kid were about Kung Fu. There were the movies of Bruce Lee of course， but also the movies about Kung Fu monk-warriors from Shaolin Temple. I grew up thinking Shaolin Temple did not exist， it was only a fiction. It was really a surprise when I cam to China and learnt Shaolin temple is an ancient institution， not just a creation from Chinese Kung Fu movie makers. They made me thought that Chinese were capable of doing superhuman moves and becoming almost indestructible warriors.I always have loved movies， I think they are one of the best ways to learn about a culture， and a country. In my country there were not many Chinese movies available. Besides the Bruce Lee and Kung Fu movies from my childhood， I remember a Chinese movie broadcasted in one Cultural TV channel in Mexico City， “Ermo” the funny and sarcastic of a young peasant girl called Ermo， who lives working incredible hard to save enough money to buy a TV set. I watched it several times， laughing once and again by her misadventures. Most of them were a funny way to criticize the materialistic twist the life in China was taking in the late eighties and early nineties. I saw that movie in the original Chinese soundtrack， with subtitles in Spanish. No matter how much I tried， I never could understand any word said by the characters. How difficult must be to speak Chinese I thought.Even though I did not watch it， I remember “Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon” because it won the Oscar award to the best non-English movie in 2000， defeating a Mexican one，“Amores Perros” (Dog love stories). It had been years without watching a Chinese movie， and that one was also about flying Kung Fu warriors. I wondered if China could make a different kind of movies.Three years after， I found myself studying Chinese to go to work in China. Our teacher brought some recent movies from China. One was Hero. It was also flying warriors， but with a very different plot， the quest of a warrior to avoid the assassination of the soon to be First Emperor at the hands of a gang of masters of fighting. I learnt that Chinese love to make movies about things that happened centuries or thousands of years ago， a reflection of the pride they feel for their long history and rich culture. The other one I saw was “A World without Thieves”， a movie filmed about a trip by train， with thieves with skills not far way from those of Kung Fu warriors.While in China， I wish I have watched more Chinese movies. It is difficult to point out the best in my opinion. Chinese themes， characters and motivations are very different from the movies I use to watch， mainly Mexican， American， European and Latin-American. Their conception of aesthetics and visual effects are fascinating. For instance， when I watched“The Banquet”， I though some characters moved like people from other planet， in sceneries taken from dreams of the most creative artists.Chinese movies have helped me to understand China and its people; they reflect their hopes， their fears， their traditions， their views of their own world， 天下 (tiān xià)… but they are also valuable in themselves and provide a complete different view of the world to foreign eyes.(Author: Responsible of Commercial Affairs at Embassy of Mexico in China)