Film policy, the Chinese government and soft power

Abstract This article examines how the Chinese ruling party understands the role of film and how film policy has been used to promote China’s soft power. It first explores shifts in policy over a period of 60 years in order to identify the government’s overall approach to the film industry. Then it investigates ‘Zou Chu Qu’, the so-called ‘Going-Out Policy’, specifically aimed at promoting soft power. This article argues that, although the role of the film industry has been adjusted in response to developments in Chinese society, the principal function of film as a tool of propaganda, along with the broader censorship system, has not fundamentally changed. Such policy arrangements have resulted in a tension between the ‘attraction’ of soft power and the state’s attraction to censorship. Consequently, there currently seems little room for Chinese films to contribute to China’s soft power in any meaningful way.