Speaking on March 3, at the first nationwide industry symposium since the Central Propaganda Department took jurisdiction over the National Film Bureau, Wang Xiaohui, Executive Deputy Director of the Central Propaganda Department and director of the National Film Bureau, exhorted filmmakers to turn the country into a “strong film power” like the U.S. by 2035 and called for the production of 100 movies a year that each earn more than RMB100 million ($15 million) as part of a push to increase China’s soft power. Film luminaries such as directors Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, Ning Hao, Guan Hu, and Huang Jianxin, as well as actors Zhang Ziyi, Wu Jing, and Chen Daoming, were on the list of attendees, according to the People’s Daily. Wang Xiaohui said “China has already taken its place at the center of the world stage, and Chinese films must have their proper place in the world, but the Chinese film industry’s current level of development is not commensurate with China’s national status. A country’s level of film development reflects its total national strength.” He said “overall, our ability to tell stories lags far behind Hollywood and Bollywood’s, and "the international influence of Chinese film still has such a long way to go.” He said the 100 films a year that gross more than $15 million each should be “about realistic topics” and must “equally generate social impact and financial profits”. They should take “the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” as their theme and have “patriotic plots.” He asserted that filmmakers “must have a clear ideological bottom line and cannot challenge the political system.” 

(Comment: Wang Xiaohui was named head of China’s film bureau last May, following a major government restructuring.)