EVENT DETAILS

The Yale Club of Beijing Invites You to Brunch

Commercializing the “Main Melody Films”:

Chinese Cinema in Transformation

TENG Jimeng

Author, CCTV “Dialogue” Program Commentator

11:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 25, 2010

The ongoing development of Chinese cinema's commercial entertainment trend is both the result and the manifestation of the Chinese film industry's shifting economic and cultural orientations. The commercialization of the film industry directly contributed to the surge of “state-funded propaganda blockbuster-commercialized main melody films.” The all time Chinese box-office champion- The Founding of a Republic (2009) is widely acclaimed as the most successful main melody film ever made in the post-Cultural Revolution China. Does The Founding of a Republic indicate a tactical shift for China's film bureau with regards to getting its message across? Or a paradigm shift for Chinese filmmakers to respond to the industry's marketization agenda?

Dim Sum Brunch: Happy Valley Restaurant, The Swissotel

#2 Chaoyangmen Bei 

Phone: 6553.2288  120 RMB for Yale Club Members / 150 for Other Guests

Please address all inquiries to events@yaleclubbeijing.org 

RSVP through the Event Calendar at www.yaleclubbeijing.org 

Kindly note that space for this event is limited. Please be seated by 11:15 a.m.

TENG Jimeng

Teng Jimeng has taught American Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) since 1991, and has been full time associate professor of the University’s Center for American Studies since 1998, after which he traveled extensively in South China and North America on various grants, including the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia and US-China Fulbright Educational Exchange Grants. His primary research interest is a long-term project on the transition and transformation from social radicalism in the 1960s to the neo-conservatism in the 1980s. He specializes in US history in the 1960s. His book “Music-Made America: Popular Music since 1960’s” (Beijing: Foreign Languages Teaching & Research Press, 1995) frames rock ‘n’ roll culture of the 1960s America within the history of mass media with a focus on popular culture as a mediation between mainstream and alternative cultures. His awards include two Certificates for Excellence in Teaching at BFSU in 1993 and 1994.

Meanwhile, from 1991 to 1997, he served as translator and consultant to the Palm D’Or winning director, Mr. Chen Kaige, director of Farewell My Concubine. His major interview with Chen Kaige titled “Foreign Literatures and Films” was published in Foreign Literatures (No. 2, 1996), one of the most prestigious academic journals in China today. He also works for Director Wang Chao, one of the flagship Sixth Generation directors, whose Luxury Car, wins the Un Certain Regard at the Cannes International Film Festival 2006, France. Currently, he is consulting for Dir. Wang’s new project, an art house film independently produced by Director Wang’s Wutongyingzhi Company Ltd.

Teng Jimeng is a long-term public commentator with both China Radio International (CRI), and “Dialogue” (Channel 9) of China Central Television (CCTV), the English language channel at the nation’s largest television network. Presently, Mr. Teng is teaching American Studies at the School of English and International Studies, and Professor of Chinese film at the Alliance Program at Beijing Language and Culture University, and CET Program at Beijing Normal University.

Add this event to Outlook