Entering the Golden Age of Chinese Cinema

By Chenxi Ouyang, Boston University College of Communication

Peggy Chiao (Chiao Hsiung-p’ing焦雄屏) a prominent Taiwanese film producer, film critic, and faculty at Taiwan National University of the Arts, gave a lecture on “The Golden Age of Chinese Cinema” at Boston University on November 7th 2012, as part of the BUCSA Taiwan Forum sponsored by the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in Boston. Professor Chiao elaborated on the development of Chinese language cinema, analyzed the current situation of the film industry in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China, and predicted its flourishing future. Her presence not only attracted students and faculty from BU, but also film students from Emerson College and the University of Massachusetts Boston. Wang Yidong, a student from UMass present at the event, said that it was after seeing Peggy Chiao’s Beijing Bicycle (2001; also screened at BU College of Communication’s Cinematique Series on November 9), that he decided to study film. After the lecture, Professor Chiao answered questions from the audience and offered valuable advice on film-making to an enthusiastic group of Chinese film students who lingered on for almost an hour.

The Boston-based Chinese language ‘World Journal’ (‘Shijie Xinwen’, online edition) covered Peggy Chiao’s BU visit.