China Film Museum 中国电影博物馆
朝阳区南影路9号
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond
The museum recommends booking in advance by phone or online, but in reality this is unlikely to be necessary most of the time. The striking, ultra-modern building, with a façade in the form of a giant clapper board, is sufficiently far out from the centre of town that Běijīng’s suburban housing projects for the nouveaux riches have not yet swallowed up all the neighbouring farmland, and it looks oddly out of place.
Entrance is through a giant star, and the interior is every bit as stylish as you would expect a cinema museum to be, as well as offering a state-of-the-art multiplex that includes what is claimed to be Asia’s biggest IMAX screen, with 3D facilities.
As a whole, the site has a split personality. You can see propaganda films entirely free, but anything entertaining costs money (and that ranges from the Japanese cartoon cat from outer space Doraemon to The Lion King and Avatar, or similar). Some films are in their original languages, and the complex is understandably popular with expat families on this side of Běijīng.
Similarly the museum display, beginning up the stairs from the lobby and to the left, starts with every sign of being staggeringly tedious. Although the first films were shown in China from 1896, Chinese cinema itself began only in 1905 (mostly with films of traditional opera), and so Chinese shadow puppet plays and revolving lanterns from the 10th to 14th centuries are claimed to be its precursors. But once the Party takes over we are informed that ‘Chinese cinema is guided by the general goal of building socialist culture with Chinese characteristics and improving the socialist market system.’ With rare frankness: ‘During the ten year catastrophe 1966–76 Chinese film undertaking met with complete and comprehensive destruction.’ Not a single feature film was produced for seven years. Máo and Zhōu are given credit for the resumption of film-making in 1973 as if they weren’t responsible for the Cultural Revolution’s cultural shutdown in the first place.
But there’s much better to come. Upper floors are reached by a spiral ramp vaguely reminiscent of New York’s Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum, and by the third floor there’s a jarring change of gear to something far more interesting and high-tech, which leaves the politics behind to present how films are made in some considerable detail. There’s not a great deal in English, but there’s a lot on display, many film clips to watch, and many buttons to push and handles to wind that will keep children amused. An exhibition on digital special effects includes the option to have yourself filmed on a blue screen riding a flying carpet. So take the lift to the top floor and work your way backwards through the exhibition instead, which for the most part is very well done.
▶ Zhōngguó Diàn-yǐng Bówùguǎn , Nányǐng Lù 9, just outside the Fifth Ring Road, just SE of the Airport Expressway, gps 39º59’75.6”N, 116º30’90.8”E, t 8435 5959, www.cnfm.org.cn. 9am–3.30pm, Tue–Sun. Free.
nb passport required. b to 南皋: 402 (from m Liàng Mǎ Qiáo), 418, 688, 955, 955区间 (all from 798 Art District), 973; walk on in the same direction and turn right into Nán Yǐng Lù (南影路), passing under the railway line.
There are drinks and some snacks available in a small café inside the museum. The China Railway Museum and Cǎochǎngdì Art District are both within walking distance, and the Dà Shānzi 798 Art District a short bus trip away.
Next in Museums and Other Sights: Guānfù Classic Art Museum
Previously: China Railway Museum
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For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
