New Book Announcement: “Ethnic Minority Cinema in China’s Nation-State Building” by Kwai-Cheung Lo

Ethnic Minority Cinema in China’s Nation-State Building, Kwai-Cheung Lo (University of Michigan Press, February 2025)

Kwai-Cheung Lo’s Ethnic Minority Cinema in China’s Nation-State Building investigates the convoluted relations between cinematic productions about non-Han ethnic minorities and China’s nation-state building project from the early Republican era of the 1920s to the current authoritarian regime in the 21st century. The glossy but superficial cinematic depictions of non-Han ethnic minorities manufactured and manipulated by state authorities have deeply penetrated the Chinese psyche of what an ideal multi-ethnic nation should be like, Lo argues, with these visuals changing what it means to be Chinese under political unification.