An Overview of Chinese Cinema and Asian Cinema
Chinese cinema and Asian cinema are two undergraduate subjects offered by the Asia Institute and the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne.Chinese cinema examines contemporary Chinese film and literature in relation to major social and political developments in the post-1978 era，with a special focus on twelve Chinese mainland films and a couple of contemporary literary works.Asian cinema looks at films and media products produced in the Asia region，with a special emphasis on their transnational aspects in terms of production，distribution and reception.
The two subjects share a few features in common.Both Chinese cinema and Asian cinema use films as primary study materials，accompanied by related academic articles to assist students with their understanding of the film content and the broader social and political contexts from which the films emerged.Both subjects aim to help students to achieve the following learning objectives—to develop:①a comprehension of the emergence of key films as they relate to their specific social，cultural and historical conditions of production;②a familiarity with some of the major critical approaches to the study of Chinese and Asian cinema;③the ability to use these approaches in their own work to critically analyse different film texts;and last but not least;④their critical thinking ability，which is a key objective in the study of the humanities.
The two subjects differentiate from each other in a number of ways as well.First，the key difference，or variable，is the language.Chinese cinema is delivered mainly in Chinese，and all assessment tasks are completed in Chinese.But a small proportion of the reading materials are scholarly articles in English.Asian cinema is taught and learned completely in English，and all assignments are completed in English as well.Second，in terms of their target groups，while Chinese cinema is designed mostly for Chinese international students，Asian cinema targets international students as well as local students at the University of Melbourne，although about half of the 110 students enrolled in this subject are Chinese international students.The third difference lies in the contact hours of the two subjects.Chinese cinema features a 1-hour lecture and a 2-hour tutorial weekly schedule，while Asian cinema adopts a 1.5-hour lecture and a 1-hour tutorial model.Apparently，the 2-hour tutorial means more interactive time between students and the teacher as tutorial groups for both subjects are capped at 22 students.Finally，the two subjects have different assessment components，although they both consist of three major assessment tasks with a total requirement of 4000 words in the form of essays and critical film reviews.Chinese cinema requires students to complete:①two 500-word essays，accounting for 30%of the total marks，due at mid-and the end of the semester;②a 2000-word final essay，accounting for 40%of the total;and③a 10-minute film review presentation and the presentation in written form，totalling 1000 words;both of these accounting for 10%and 20%each.Asian Cinema assesses students in:①a 1400-word mid-term essay，accounting for 35%of the total;②a 1400-word final essay for another 35%of the total;and③two 600-word film reviews，also based on in-class oral presentations，and accounting for 30%of the total grade.