88
the United States and further raise suspicion of the American cultural inflow.
In a deeper sense, the negative impact of this incident may have been even worse. Obviously, the proposed ban on the abstract paintings was part of the campaign to oppose "bourgeois liberalization", a campaign which itself shows that liberal policies regarding culture had become controversial. As the United States benefited considerably from such a policy, it is understandable that it was not happy with the launching of this campaign. But the consequence of the strong American position on the abstract paintings left the already controversial open-door policy on culture even more vulnerable to criticism.
The vulnerability of arts exchanges to an unfavorable climate in bilateral political terms can also be demonstrated by the management of the Hu Na case which grew into a symbolic confrontation between the United States and the People's Republic of China. As a measure of retaliation, the Chinese government cancelled the entire schedule of officially arranged cultural exchanges for the remainder of 1983. Together with the campaign in China to oppose "spiritual pollution" beginning in October 1983, this unfavorable climate in Sino-American relations contributed to the decline of Sino-American exchanges of performing groups and art exhibitions to the lowest ebb since 1980.
Although there have been ups and downs in Sino-American cultural relations in the fields of performing groups and arts exhibitions, an American cultural presence in movie presentations in China has enjoyed a relatively steady increase since 1981. By examining the films the China Film Export and Import Corporation (CFEIC) directly purchased from American corporations for public showing, we find that the increase in the number of American films shown in China has grown steadily from one in 1981 to nine in 1984. The number of films purchased in each year roughly doubled. Both of the movies imported in 1982 were shown in the following year, while all four in 1983 got to the public in 1984 and 1985. In 1981 an American movie week was held. In June 1982, 40,000 film workers gathered in Beijing and Shanghai to see six movies shot by James Wong Howe, which were provided by the American embassy to Beijing, in memory of this famous Chinese American film maker. There were also screenings of American movies that the CFEIC purchased from other countries and products of other countries reflecting American life, such as the movie Uncle Tom's Cabin.