The state against ghosts: a genealogy of China's film censorship policy

This essay provides a genealogy of Chinese film policy by focusing on the censorship of representations of ghosts and the supernatural in Chinese cinema. From China's first film censorship policy in the 1920s to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, ghost-related cultural products have attracted significant attention from the government, and national policies regarding these representations correspond to a range of changing concerns. Chinese cinema finds itself in a most difficult plight, because of the political role it has been granted by the state, and the natural lure of ghosts for the audience. Filmic representation of the supernatural causes particular anxiety because ghosts can be allegorically rich, politically subversive and economically profitable.