Book design
Electric Shadows – A Century of Chinese Cinema is an introduction to the long and illustrious history of Chinese cinema, from the earliest silent films through the glamour and invention of Shanghai’s golden age in the 1930s, from the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution to the grand renaissance of the ‘Fifth Generation’ directors in the 1980s, and from the underground, independent spirit of the 1990s to the booming multiplex cinema of the present. Along the way it tells the parallel stories of Hong Kong and Taiwan’s cinema, and, of course, China’s great genre cinema, from ‘wuxia’ swordplay epics and kung fu spectacles to crime thrillers and eerie ghost tales. Through a range of lavishly illustrated new essays, written by many of the foremost authorities in the field, the fascinating, dramatic history of Chinese cinema is revealed.