For Chinese moviegoers weary of the box-office-dominating propaganda film “Beginning of the Great Revival,” there is a lighter option en route from across the Strait.

On July 12, the Taiwanese film “Night Market Hero” will open in 14 Chinese cities, becoming the first under new regulations that exempt Taiwanese movies from Beijing’s import quotas that limit the release of foreign films (only 50 a year are allowed in the mainland). The movie centers on a band of food hawkers seeking to save their night market from being turned into an apartment block by a corrupt politician and an unscrupulous developer.

Although the Taiwanese government has billed the movie—which features iconic night-market treats like peppered steak and fried chicken— as a potential boon to tourism, the release also marks an opportunity for Taiwan’s film industry, past its glory days in the ’80s and ’90s when directors like Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien were putting out movies that still feature prominently in the pantheon of Chinese-language cinema.

It remains to be seen how much money “Night Market Hero,” which will be released in mainland China by Bona Film Group Ltd. can bring in—US$4.9 million in Taiwan—but for a film industry with a domestic audience of only 22 million, every little bit counts. When the 2008 Taiwanese hit “Cape No. 7” was released in mainland China it earned only 20 million yuan (US$3.1 million), large by Taiwan standards, but peanuts by Chinese standards, says Wen-ching Chu, the head of Taiwan’s Government Information Office department of motion pictures.

That puts some pressure on “Night Market Hero,” which Mr. Chu says has the eye of many Chinese film distributors looking to gauge how popular Taiwanese films will be in the Chinese market. Judging by the popularity of Taiwanese television in China, there will undoubtedly be interest. The common cliche in Taiwan is that mainland Chinese tourists who visit the island often fail to leave their hotel rooms at night they are so taken by evening variety shows.

But “Night Market Hero” faces a unique set of challenges. True to the local side of Taiwanese culture it depicts, the movie is in the Hokkien dialect, spoken across Taiwan but incomprehensible to most residents of cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, where the movie will play. According to Mr. Chu, the movie will be translated into Chinese slang, but there is a strong possibility the translations of the dialect, which has its own sayings and jokes, will fall flat in Mandarin.

Still, even if the translation doesn’t sparkle, the movie’s political elements may resonate with mainland audiences at a time when independent politicians are increasingly declaring their candidacy in county and township elections. In the film, the market democratically elects the film’s protagonist to stand up against the more powerful forces that want to shut it down. The rest of the characters, meanwhile, are free to protest and harness the power of the media to spread word of their plight.

In Taiwan there is a well-worn idea that the best solution to the seemingly intractable cross-Strait political divide is for Taiwan to influence the mainland from within, holding itself up as an example of a democratic model.  One way to promote that model is through movies, assuming they can get past the government’s censors, as “Night Market Hero” did.

And even if future movies do less to propel political ideas—the next Taiwanese movie slated to come out in the mainland is a romantic comedy called “L-O-V-E” –the larger China market offers great potential for a Taiwanese film industry that has often had much to say, but rarely enough people to say it to.

–Paul Mozur and Jenny W. Hsu

China’s economy during the past 30 years has changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy.

One demographic consequence of the “one child” policy is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world.

China is also the second largest trading nation in the world and the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods.
The PRC government’s decision to permit China to be used by multinational corporations as an export platform has made the country a major competitor to other Asian export-led economies, such as South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Available energy is insufficient to run at fully installed industrial capacity, and the transport system is inadequate to move sufficient quantities of such critical items as coal.

Agricultural output has been vulnerable to the effects of weather, while industry has been more directly influenced by the government.

China has acquired some highly sophisticated production facilities through trade and also has built a number of advanced engineering plants capable of manufacturing an increasing range of sophisticated equipment, including nuclear weapons and satellites, but most of its industrial output still comes from relatively ill-equipped factories.

The market-oriented reforms China has implemented over the past two decades have unleashed individual initiative and entrepreneurship, whilst retaining state domination of the economy.

China now ranks as the fifth largest global investor in outbound direct investment (ODI) with a total volume of $56.5 billion, compared to a ranking of 12th in 2008, the Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday.

“The growth rate (for ODI) in the next few years will be much higher than previous years,” Shen said, without elaborating.

China is aiming to be the world’s largest new energy vehicle market by 2020 with 5 million cars.

China’s challenge in the early 21st century will be to balance its highly centralized political system with an increasingly decentralized economic system.

Since the late 1970s, China has decollectivized agriculture, yielding tremendous gains in production.

Except for the oasis farming in Xinjiang and Qinghai, some irrigated areas in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, and sheltered valleys in Tibet, agricultural production is restricted to the east.

Due to improved technology, the fishing industry has grown considerably since the late 1970s.

China is one of the world’s major mineral-producing countries.

Alumina is found in many parts of the country; China is one of world’s largest producers of aluminum.

China also has extensive hydroelectric energy potential, notably in Yunnan, W Sichuan, and E Tibet, although hydroelectric power accounts for only 5% of the country’s total energy production.

Brick, tile, cement, and food-processing plants are found in almost every province.

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Taiwan’s ‘Night Market Hero’ Makes Mainland Debut