Fantasy, Vampirism and Genre/Gender Wars on the Chinese Screen of the Roaring 1920s

This chapter examines the 1920s at a time when Chinese cinema was emerging in the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai, and genre potentials were being actively explored across the full spectrum of Chinese film production. Relying mainly on a textual analysis of the newly discovered silent classic The Cave of the Silken Web (Dan Duyu, 1927), the chapter aims to establish the fantasy film as an important genre in early Chinese cinema. The intention is to focus on how Chinese cinema developed as a commercial genre and narrative form and offer up a fuller picture of cultural, political and social determinates acting on the Chinese film industry during this time.