young chinese rebels with a cause (that's me)

Young Rebels in Contemporary Chinese CinemaAn Evening Presentation with Dr. ZHOU XUELIN, University of AucklandMonday, July 7, 2008

Hong Kong Club, Harcourt Room, 1/F, 1 Jackson Road, Central

Cocktails at 6.30 p.m., Presentation at 7.00 p.m., Close at 8.00 p.m.HK$150 Asia Society members/full-time students, HK$200 Non-membersThe generation that grew up during the Cultural Revolution began to defy established social norms in the late 1980s. Emerging as angry and alienated, such "young rebels" were treated as a separate category in Chinese cinema. What are the distinctive features of the many dozens of films produced over that period? What relationships exist between the changes in politics and in film in China from 1950s to the present? Has China in the 80s gone through a phase of "youth rebellion" comparable with that represented in western films such as Rebel Without a Cause or Look Back in Anger? Dr. Zhou Xuelin, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Film, Television and Media Studies, University of Auckland, will trace the roots of the development of youth culture as reflected in Chinese cinema. Aided with exclusive video clips from some of these "young rebel" films, he will contextualize the rise of the "youth phenomenon" in the mainland in the 80s. Prior to joining the University of Auckland, Dr. Zhou was an Associate Professor in literature and cultural studies at Guangdong Foreign Studies University. For decades, Dr. Zhou has been involved in cultural and film studies with particular interest in Asian media and cross-cultural aspects. His recent research interest is in the representation of "marginalized youth" in a variety of national and semi-national cinemas in East Asia, resulting in his latest publication of Young Rebels in Contemporary Chinese Cinema by the Hong Kong University Press in 2007.