Screen Connections between Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China

Abstract

To date Malaysia has occupied a peripheral position in studies of Chinese cinemas and East Asian pop culture, often overlooked in favor of the more productive centers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and increasingly China. By engaging with the field of Chinese transnationalism as developed by Aihwa Ong and others, this paper reconsiders Malaysia’s place in the broader Chinese media landscape and the role of Chinese Malaysians as agents driving Malaysia’s engagement with Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Focusing on Malaysia, this paper explores Malaysia’s screen connections to China through the two vectors of Malaysian migration and Chinese co-productions entering Malaysia. Increasingly, Malaysian creative workers who are already quite mobile are moving in increasing numbers to Mainland China and working on Chinese entertainment projects. Primarily, they take on intermediary roles within China’s growing entertainment industries which need cosmopolitan, multi-lingual creative labor as it increasingly globalizes and seeks foreign partners. Conversely, as China’s industry expands outwards, it seeks co-production partners and locations and has found Malaysia to be conducive. In outlining this new screen industry relationship, this paper suggests cultural and economic implications and futures for Chinese cinemas in Southeast Asia and the role of Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese population.