A rich and powerful work that provides both a dazzling synthesis of contemporary cultural theory and at the same time an exemplary critique of Chinese cinema. It is a book to be read and re-read and is thus highly recommended because it is more than a film book. It engages directly with the problems Chinese culture faces in a changing world.

Rey Chow is the author, most recently, of Ethics After Idealism: Theory-Culture-Ethnicity-Reading.