The movie is the first Chinese film to star a major Hollywood actor.
Jackie Chan, who transformed himself from a Chinese film star into a Hollywood action comedy legend, trained at a Peking Opera school.
The Chinese film director Zhang Yimou has withdrawn two of his most recent works from next month's Cannes Film Festival.
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Until now, contemporary Chinese film making has been identified in the West with historical peasant dramas of great visual beauty which allude only allegorically to modern-day politics or society.
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"There's no question that China is very sensitive to its image, " said Stanley Rosen, an expert on the Chinese film industry, and director of the East Asian Studies Center at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
While Americans saw Chang as a med-student son of an immigrant father, Chinese viewers will see a film about a Chinese native living in America but returning to China.
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Chinese themes in a film can bring in a wider audience, just as American actors help to sell non-Hollywood flicks at home.
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One 2011 Chinese martial-arts film with Western sensibilities is "Wu Xia, " from director Peter Chan, which Weinstein Co. signed for U.S. distribution at Cannes (so far there's just a Blu-ray with English subtitles available).
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This new film by the Chinese director Zhang Yimou is a far cry from his earlier work.
Sharp-eyed internet users have been mocking clips in the film of a Chinese doctor wearing a face mask but no surgical gloves when operating on Iron Man, as well as not-too-subtle product placements for a domestic milk drink.
Tong Gang, head of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, urged filmmakers to "better express Chinese images and stories in line with the international film mainstream" and step up their marketing and publicity, according to state media.
Hong Kong movie industry icon last year released what may be his last action film CZ12, or Chinese Zodiac, which he wrote and directed.
And on the other hand, I think it will increase more opportunities for Chinese and U.S. film (companies) to cooperate together to produce more films.
It hoped that the new Chinese middle class would buy lots of film.
Robert Downey Jr. spoke of his fascination with Chinese culture during a promotional tour for the film in Beijing last month.
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"Most of the people at the recycling center didn't want to be filmed, because they think it's a shameful job, " said a Chinese woman named Lilly, one of the film's subjects, speaking Cantonese through a translator while collecting a fresh haul last week near Fulton Street.
Frank Couvares, a professor of history and American Studies at Massachusetts' Amherst College, said that rather than something new, Hollywood's readiness to cater to Chinese demands on content reflects business practices the American film industry has had in place for more than seven decades.
The action-hero movie was co-financed by DMG, a Chinese media company that has the rights to distribute the film in China.
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The Chinese Diggers won a bronze medal at the New York International Film and TV Festival in 1988.
After years of when going to the movies meant sitting in a drafty hall watching a film chosen by a local government committee, the Chinese have embraced the idea of taking in a movie as a desirable leisure activity.
British film studio Pinewood Shepperton has agreed a joint venture with Chinese media group Seven Stars.
Much of the film is set in China, in part to appeal to Chinese cinema-goers.
The new Chinese market has translated into an emphasis in contrasts of Hong Kong-made films, says film archivist Cheng.
After doing the film-festival rounds (Venice, Toronto, Pusan), the Gong Li-Jeremy Irons starrer Chinese Box finally made it to mainstream American movie screens last week.
On Friday, coinciding with the U.S.-China film deal, DreamWorks Animation announced a joint venture with China Media Capital (CMC) and two other Chinese companies to establish a China-focused family entertainment company, Oriental DreamWorks.
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