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WRITER Rudyard Kipling once wrote: 'East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.'
But if the East is represented by the history and cultures of China, and the West is Hollywood's American-centric outlook in film-making, there are some signs that these disparate sensibilities are converging.
After earlier critical and commercial successes such as Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987) and Wayne Wang's The Joy Luck Club (1993), Hollywood directors have more openly forged a Chinese connection in their works.
Examples include action thrillers Shanghai Noon (2000) and Shanghai Knights (2003), starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, and John Curran's 2006 adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novel, The Painted Veil.
This year alone has witnessed a slew of China-inspired releases like Kung Fu Panda, The Forbidden Kingdom and the latest set-in-China instalment in The Mummy movies.
Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times' Life!
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