Chinese cinema is often divided into six generations. The term "generations" is used to make it easier to group the different phases of Chinese film history, but they are not completely different from one another. A particular generation may share something in common with the previous generation, while also passing something onto the next generation. In a sense, the history of Chinese film can be said to have gone through a sort of evolution from its beginnings to the present.

The first and second generations of film began during the 1890's and continued through the beginning part of the early 1900's. These two generations of Chinese film are often seen as the pioneers for Chinese cinema. Many of these

Many people may wonder how such a small city-state of China could make such an impact on the film industry. Much of the answer can be found in the demands of the films. The people want to see these films and Bordwell even goes as far as to say it's, "arguably the world's most energetic, imaginitive popular cinema" (1).

In today's times, censorship has not stopped China from being a major force in the international film industry. This is largely due to the popularity of the Chinese genre of film labeled Hong Kong Cinema. In fact Hong Kong Cinema has become quite a cult phenomenon in the West. This popularity has resulted in a large release of films that has often outnumbered Western releases and helped China become second in the world when it comes to the export of films. Hong Kong's films are often seen as a source of pride for the Chinese. They enjoy Honk Kong cinema so much in fact, that Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world where American films are not dominant in box office receipts on a regular basis. Even popular American films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Who Framed Roger Rabbit were outgrossed by other films in Hong Kong.

As far as actors are concerned, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan are the most famous men in Hong Kong cinema. As a child, Bruce Lee appeared in a number of films. As a youth he also began to study the martial arts and as a young man left Hong Kong to go to college in America. While in America he was able to win a part in the television series, The Green Hornet. Soon afterwards he filmed two pictures that were known in America as Fists of Fury and The Chinese Connection. The success of these two films led to a deal which allowed Lee to produce, wrie, and direct his own film. This led Lee's creation of The Return of the Dragon and an effort he coproduced entitled Enter the Dragon. Unfortunately, while working on his next project, entitled Game of Death, Lee passed away although the circumstances are unknown. Bordwell calls Lee, "the first Hong Kong Star to achieve worldwide reknown" and says that he, " helped popularize Chinese martial arts.

The fourth generation of Chinese filmmakers is made up of men who were trained before the Cultural Revolution. Although they were trained long ago, many of these filmmakers have not made their first feature films until the last 20 years. Xie Jin is one of the more prominent names of the fourth generation of film. Some of his achievements include twenty-one films, several filmmaking awards, and a career that has spanned three decades. Donald describes his film as, "melodramatic epics of personal suffering, and particularly successful examples of the wound (shang hen) genre, stories of individual tragedy and eventual triumph that deal with the experiences of the Cultural Revolution in cathartic and personalized narratives" (7). Although Xie Jin has enjoyed a certain level of success, Xie and his fellow filmmakers of the fourth generation are often overlooked because of the fifth generation. The irony is that the fourth generation is often seen as having paved the way for the fifth generation. The benefactor of this student-

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2106
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)