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China's film industry experienced hardships and setbacks after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The beginning was brilliant with many fine movies showing on the screen. Most of these tell stories about the war of resistance against the Japanese aggression as well as about the civil war, such as Dong Cunrui (1955) by Guo Wei and The Red Detachment of Women (1961) by Xie Jin. These movies made everything seem fresh due to lively roles and plot. But at the same time they had a severe shortage and were limited by a lack of individual artistic character as well as different photographic style. Artistic rules were usually neglected. In this aspect, films made in the 1950s were inferior to those made earlier. In the 17 years between the establishment of P.R. China and the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976), 603 feature films and 8,342 reels of documentary and news were made. The first wide-screen film was produced in 1960.
Filmmaking fell on "disaster time" during the Cultural Revolution. The film industry was severely restricted and no film was shot in the period 1966 and 1972. Films made between 1973-76 were strongly affected by revolutionary thinking and became tools of the Gang of Four. The films made then more or less reflected the real situation of China during the "Cultural Revolution".
In the years immediately following the "Cultural Revolution", artists in film began to free their minds and the film industry again flourished as a medium of popular entertainment. Animated films using a variety of folk arts, such as paper cuts, shadow plays, puppetry, and traditional painting, were also very popular with children.
In the 1980s, China's filmmakers started an all-round exploration and the range of film subjects extended. Films depicting the good and evil of the "Cultural Revolution" were very popular with the ordinary person. Many realism films reflecting the transformation of society as well as people's ideology were produced.
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