范志忠，于汐：The Regional Rootedness of China’s Film Industry
About the Author
范志忠 Zhizhong Fan
于汐 Xi Yu
To Cite This Article
Fan, Zhizhong and Yu, Xi. "The Regional Rootedness of China’s Film Industry: Cluster Development and Attempts at Cross-Location Integration" Journal of Chinese Film Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, 2021, pp. 463-486. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0027
The Regional Rootedness of China’s Film Industry: Cluster Development and Attempts at Cross-Location Integration
中国电影产业集群化发展的区域根植与跨地融合
Abstract and Keywords
摘要：中国电影产业的集群化发展，根植于中国北部、东部、西部和南部四大电影产业板块，并由于其历史传承、文化资源而各具区域特色。新中国成立后行政区域的划分以及电影企业的属地管理政策，在促进中国电影产业区域发展的同时，又加剧了其集群化发展的复杂性和矛盾性。20世纪50年代，四大国营电影制片厂的建立以及电影由国家统购包销的计划经济管理模式，奠定了以北京、上海和长春为中心的电影生产格局。20世纪90年代以来，中国电影深化机制改革，电影的发行与放映逐步走向市场，民营企业开始积极参与电影的制作发行与基地建设，中国电影开始积极探索产业集群，并注意跨越不同区域的产业板块边界而尝试电影的联合制作与企业的跨区经营，在构建影视基地联盟的基础上，力图实现各地优势资源的互补，促进区域性的产业板块以开放、包容的姿态融入电影产业发展之中，为中国电影跃居全球重要的电影市场奠定了基础。
关键词：中国电影，产业集群，区域根植，跨地融合
Abstract：China’s film industry has its historical roots across the four geographical divisions of northern, eastern, western, and southern China. Each of these four film-producing regions have their own characteristics with divergent historical heritages and cultural resources. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) the division of administrative regions included a territorially divided management policy of film enterprises. Such policies promoted the regional development of China’s film industry while simultaneously exacerbated the complex contradictions between and among the clusters produced. In the 1950s, four major state-owned film studios were established in Beijing, Shanghai and Changchun. Under the planned economy model, films were purchased and sold exclusively by the state through these studios. Since the 1990s, China’s film industry has undergone deep institutional reform, with film distribution and exhibition gradually moving towards the market and private enterprises beginning to actively participate in film production and distribution. The film industry has since begun to actively explore the generative potential of the existing industrial clusters, experimenting with film co-production and cross-regional business operations across the regions. With the goal of constructing a film and television alliance, the film industry has sought to maximize the advantages of different regions to promote the integration of these historically and regionally distinct sectors in an open and tolerant manner, laying the foundation for Chinese films to leapfrog into the global film market.
Keywords: Chinese film, industry clusters, regional rootedness, cross-location integration
A Glimpse of the Article
The Geographical Aggregation of China’s Film Industry
中国电影产业的地理聚集
In both the number of film enterprises found and films produced, a trend can be seen where more film production activity is found in the eastern coastal regions than in the central and western regions. Changes in the regional layout since the 1980s feature the following: first, the advantages of Beijing and Shanghai as traditional film production centers remains strong, which is certainly linked to the national status of the two cities. Second, the southeastern coastal provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Guangdong, which were not originally the centers of national film production in the planned economy era, and which did not even have production quota allocations for feature films, have since been able to develop as vibrant areas of film production and operation with the rise of the private economy. Third, some of the central and western regions have inherited the resources and production experience of the former state-owned studios, and although the number of film produced and film enterprises is not as high as that of the eastern regions, they remain unique because of the distinctive regional culture that they exhibit and serve. Lastly, Changchun was once one of the three major film production centers in the planned economy era, and Changchun Film Studio was once the state-owned studio with the largest number of production quota allocations for feature films, but under the impact of marketization, its output has declined significantly. In view of the above situation, this article divides China’s film industry into four major sectors.
Regional Rootedness of the Four Industry Sectors
四大产业板块的区域根植
The regional rootedness of the film industry involves both the comprehensive application and organic integration of the elements, and the more sufficient and comprehensive the elements, the better the effect of regional rootedness. In general, regional rootedness in the film industries of the northern and eastern sectors is relatively strong and developed, while regional rootedness in the central and western regions is mainly derived from history, culture, policies, and institutions. Regional rootedness of the film industry in the southern sector is not yet stable. However, even those sectors exhibiting strong regional rootedness have yet to form a film industrial cluster. For example, in some regions, a few state-owned enterprises or relatively large enterprises play a dominant role in the film industry in the entire region, while there is a lack of small and medium-sized private enterprises that can form an equal dialogue with them. In some regions, competition between enterprises is more common than cooperation. At present, it is impossible for any region to contain all the desired elements required by the film industry. If industry clusters take the region as a platform for interaction and cooperation between enterprises, then interaction and cooperation can also be achieved between different regions.
Regional “Locking-in” and the Need for Cross-Location Integration
区域锁定与跨地融合的需求
Although regional rootedness plays a positive role in the early stages of the development of an industry cluster, when the cluster reaches a certain level of development, especially when the number of enterprises in the region tends to be stable, the negative aspects of regional rootedness gradually emerge, resulting in “regional locking-in,” leading to stagnation or even recession. Therefore, the cluster development of Chinese films should not only achieve regional rootedness, but also explore cross-location integration.
Conclusion
结论
In conclusion, the formation of clusters from the geographical aggregation of film industries involves, on the one hand, a strengthening of the regional rootedness of film industries and, on the other hand, the coordination of regional advantages in cross-location integration. However, China’s film industry is still in its infancy in terms of both regional rootedness and cross-location integration, although it is clearly characterized by geographical aggregation. In this sense, only by further strengthening regional roots, especially by giving enterprises freer and more convenient conditions for their organic interaction with the region; by focusing on the division of labor into specialized fields; by reducing unnecessary internal conflicts; and by promoting the integration of the whole film industry in a more open and tolerant manner, will China’s film industry clusters expand into new spaces and prospects for development.
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Journal of Chinese Film Studies
《中国电影研究》
Journal of Chinese Film Studies立足中国，面向国际，旨在搭建一流国际学术平台，发表国内外高水平的中国电影研究成果，加强不同文化背景的研究者之间的对话和沟通，促进国内外电影研究界开展交流与合作，推动中国电影研究的全球发展。想与国内外知名学者一起探讨中国电影吗？赶快行动投稿吧！
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来源：中国电影研究
编辑：李智妍
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The Regional Rootedness of China’s Film Industry: Cluster Development and Attempts at Cross-Location Integration
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