Resisting cultural imperialism, or welcoming cultural globalization? China's extensive debate on Hollywood cinema from 1994 to 2007

This article provides a historical and critical review of the extensive debate in China over the government's policy of importing Hollywood blockbusters from 1994 to 2007. The debate suggests a fundamental divide in China along the different ideological lines. I argue that China's debate over Hollywood cinema actually serves as a site for the Chinese people to make sense of their own modernization process and national identity. The debate, in a large sense, has little to do with the connotation of Hollywood cinemas in the US context, but has much to do with their implications for China. The whole debate is in fact China's quest for a new, modern national identity, and how the Chinese could draw on the American experience to build a modern China. Therefore, China's case foregrounds the fundamental issue of globalization theories regarding cultural homogenization versus heterogenization, or modernity versus alternative modernities. The debate not only speaks to the complexity of the global–local dialectic, but also reflects China's contradictory perspective on globalization.