[
    {
        "id": 212532,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1991",
        "page_number": 86,
        "title": "RAS-1991",
        "content_text": "66\n\nsucceeding years.\n\nThe significant turnabout of Sino-American cultural relations, especially arts exchanges, came in 1979 when some ten American performing groups came to China for public appearances while some Chinese groups toured the United States. There were also exchanges of arts educators and prominent artists in that year, some of whose tours were sponsored by the Center for United States-China Arts Exchange, an institution established to that end on 1 October, 1978.\n\nA little earlier there had been a little-publicized thaw in 1978, when a Chinese American's Chinese-style paintings were exhibited in Beijing and the China Film Export and Import Corporation (CFEIC) made its first purchase of an American movie, the Convoy, directly from an American company. Subsequently, the CFEIC purchased a film, Future World, and accepted a gift, the Nightmare, in 1979. In 1979 all three movies were shown to the public. The Chinese television stations soon followed suit by buying a 17-episode TV series which, according to the contract, was to be allowed three transmissions in China in the next four years. On the American side, an American company purchased 14 Chinese movies in 1979 in a single deal.\n\nThe rise of Chinese interest in American arts was also demonstrated in another field, the theatre. In December 1979, a play adapted from an American movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was staged by the Chinese Youth Theatre in Beijing. The fever over American arts inaugurated in 1979 was increasingly developed in the following two years. In 1980, 13 American performing arts groups appeared on Chinese stages while the number climbed to 22 in 1981, a record which still stands today.\n\nAfter this high-point, the inflow of American culture fluctuated depending on several factors. In 1983 there was a slight increase followed by a downturn in 1984. In 1985 there was again a revival of American cultural influx.\n\nThe first major group of Chinese artists arrived in the United States in 1980, following a major event in the previous year. As appearances of Chinese artists in the States are more difficult to trace, especially for researchers in China, the statistics in this paper can only reflect major artistic events. In this case, the figures show a slight increase generally.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212555,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1991",
        "page_number": 109,
        "title": "RAS-1991",
        "content_text": "89\n\nThe phenomenon of the American movie diplomacy in China was unique. While exchanges in other fields were shrinking, movie diplomacy developed free from negative effects due to the deteriorating general relationship. Why was this?\n\nStarting from 7 May 1981, the first American film week was conducted in Beijing and four other cities. The movies were old and comparatively dull: a musical entitled Singing in the Rain, a cartoon Snow White and three feature films, including Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. The list shows that all movies reflecting contemporary American life were ruled out. But they were met by interested audiences and the event claimed to be a success. Obviously, the American officials involved in this event might have liked some contemporary films to be included in the list. Nonetheless, these films suited the Chinese officials' appetite. The whole thing was under China's control and there was no imposition of American suggestions on Chinese leaders.\n\nPutting the inflow of foreign culture under the control of the government is a vital policy in China's cultural relations with other countries. Cultural policy in China, as has been pointed out, is very much under the influence of political developments and culture in turn also has a strong impact on politics. So it is important to have a stable and balanced cultural policy, which requires, in this case, control of the influx of Western culture. During the four years from 1981, the CFEIC, China's only agency handling the importation of foreign movies, carried out a rather consistent policy in purchasing American movies, conforming to the requirement of political considerations, the development of Chinese movie making and practical needs.\n\nWhen importing an American movie, exposing the dark side of the capitalist society took high priority in governing the selection of specific movies. This policy was best explained in a review of Nightmare, a gift of an American company, shown in 1979. In a review entitled \"In the Mill of Nightmares\", indicating that American society is a generator of nightmares, the author tells his readers that what is shown in that movie is a general phenomenon in America. In deciding on accepting movies like Alambrista, First Blood and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, this selection of negative images of America can be seen clearly. In fact, this criterion was, and is still, applied to the choice of movies from all Western countries.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j",
        "rank": 0
    }
]