I think this story is important in a very interesting way. Recently in this class we've talked a few times about tensions or improving relationships between Japan and China, from the derivation of the new era name originating in a traditionally Japanese text rather than a Chinese one to the two almost sort of bonding over trade disputes with America. This seems like a deliberate attempt to make better friends with Japan in light of the upcoming visit between the two leaders of each respective country. With the animosity and issues which have strained their relationship in the past, it seems that a renewed period of cooperation is forming. This seems really good for Japan too, especially considering that they've been feeling more and more estranged from America lately. Being on China's cordial side looks to be a little bit stress-relieving in that respect.
I found the way in which China is going about showing its friendliness towards Japan quite interesting though. By allowing a large symbol of Japanese culture and media to be shown commercially in their theatres (to an audience which has already been exposed to it and really enjoyed it due to the apparent rampant pirating and illegal downloading in China), the government is making a public statement on its views towards Japan and its willingness to get along. This is actually the second statement of this kind to occur as well, with My Neighbor Totoro playing at the end of last year. These movies already have a huge fanbase in mainland China, and a whole lot of people are extremely excited for one of their favorite movies to finally hit China's big screens in an official capacity.
According to another article (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3009687/mainland-chinese-cinema-audience-eager-big-screen-debut-hayao), this isn't the first time that the showing of movies originally from Japan has been indicative of the relationship between the two countries either. Somewhere within the 1980s and 1990s China was importing a lot of Japanese cartoons, but after tensions grew between China and Japan the showing of Japanese media came to a halt.
Another article has credited the introduction of Spirited Away to the massive monetary success of the release of My Neighbor Totoro, and not actually due to the improving relationship between the countries. They attribute that to the release of the Totoro movie itself, even though it occurred much earlier and far ahead of the imminent visit by the Chinese president to Okinawa.
In my attempt to do more outside reading I noticed that these were really the only two other articles I could find on the subject. I'm interested in why not many other sources seem to be covering this, because it seems like a pretty big deal.
According to another article (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3009687/mainland-chinese-cinema-audience-eager-big-screen-debut-hayao), this isn't the first time that the showing of movies originally from Japan has been indicative of the relationship between the two countries either. Somewhere within the 1980s and 1990s China was importing a lot of Japanese cartoons, but after tensions grew between China and Japan the showing of Japanese media came to a halt.
Another article has credited the introduction of Spirited Away to the massive monetary success of the release of My Neighbor Totoro, and not actually due to the improving relationship between the countries. They attribute that to the release of the Totoro movie itself, even though it occurred much earlier and far ahead of the imminent visit by the Chinese president to Okinawa.
In my attempt to do more outside reading I noticed that these were really the only two other articles I could find on the subject. I'm interested in why not many other sources seem to be covering this, because it seems like a pretty big deal.
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