BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Analysts said that China, with its soaring economic and social achievement, had become more acceptable for American society, which could be reflected by more Chinese elements shown in Hollywood productions.
The U.S. President Barack Obama has just paid a state visit to China during his first year in office, during which Obama and his Chinese counterpart President Hu Jintao agreed to jointly promote the Sino-American relations.
The Hollywood, as an entertainment vane of the American society, reacted to a growing China even earlier than President Obama's visit. Two days before Obama's arrival in China, Hollywood's latest disaster movie, "2012", debuted on screen in cinemas around the country.
In the movie, China and the United States were portrayed as two crucial partners which jointly deal with their common challenge, world-ending catastrophe.
China also becomes the last place of salvation for the human beings for the first time in a Hollywood disaster theme movie.
Chinese analysts said that the changing image of China in Hollywood movies could reveal that the country, with a rising international status, become more acceptable for American mainstream society.
Zhang Yiwu, a cultural scholar with Peking University, said that from "Kong Fu Panda" to "2012", Chinese image has never been so popular and it could reflect the American people are, to some degrees, accepting China's influence.
The movie's scenes containing pro-China messages, such as a U.S. military officer saying that only the Chinese could build an ark of such a scale on time, have been welcomed by Chinese netizens.
"I feel very proud to hear such surprising lines in a Hollywood movie," said a netizen with an Internet name of yexinlianyi on www.douban.com.
The movie's lines such as "The Party and government will help us rebuild our homes" embodies a typical Chinese language style.
The director of "2012" Roland Emmerich said that he was paying much attention to the devastating earthquake that jolted southwest China last May when he shot the movie in the summer.
Emmerich said he was deeply moved by Chinese government and the people for their bravery and perseverance shown in the disaster.
"It is easy to understand that the Hollywood is trying to portray and tell Chinese stories and image in a more Chinese style because the Americans are paying more respect to Chinese," said Bi Chenggong, a senior movie critic.
However, other critics attributed the Hollywood's goodwill to a purely commercial intention to sell more movie tickets among Chinese people.
The total box office income of Chinese movie market in 2004 was less than 1 billion yuan (147 million U.S. dollars). In 2008, the total income increased to more than 4 billion yuan.
Bi denied the idea of commercial intention, saying that even the "2012" has gained 400 million yuan from box office in the Chinese mainland, the revenue here could not be comparable to that in the United States.
For decades, Hollywood conveyed a troubled image for China as its movies frequently connected the country to the cold war, bad guys of dictatorship and other indecent characters.
But in recent years, things become different. Hollywood movies start to pay more respect and interests in telling Chinese stories in a more friendly way.
Prof. Men Honghua with the Party School of Communist Party of China Central Committee said from Bill Clinton, George W. Bush to Barack Obama, the U.S. administrations have made a shift in their foreign policies for China in the context that the U.S. holds a more rational attitude to China's rising.
President Obama said during his town hall-like speech in Shanghai that "there are very few global challenges that can be solved unless the United States and China agree".
"The improvement of China's image is a result of both the increased national strength and the 30-year opening up and reform," said Zhang Xiwu. "The more contact Americans make with Chinese, the more real Chinese condition they will understand."
