Time Line

1981: China Film Association initiates the Golden Rooster Awards.

1983: The first Beijing Film Academy graduates make their first film One and Eight. Zhang Yimou is the cinematographer.

1988: Zhang Yimou's Red Sorghum wins the Golden Bear in the Berlin International Film Festival. It is the first Chinese film to win the honor.

1994: China allows 10 foreign films a year for theatrical release. The first is The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford. The quota grew to 20 in 2002.

1997: Feng Xiaogang makes Dream Factory and initiates the genre of "New-Year films". These are comedies about ordinary people's lives and are often screened around the New Year and the Chinese Spring Festival.

2002: New regulation allows private enterprises to shoot films independently. Before 1993, only State-owned studios could produce films. Between 1993-2002, private companies had to cooperate with the State-owned studios.

2003: The Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement is signed. Thanks to the agreement, Hong Kong enterprises can set up cinemas in the mainland in cooperation with local partners. Mainland-Hong Kong co-produced films are exempt from the 20 imported films' quota.

2006: Crazy Stone, a comedy by director Ning Hao that costs only 5 million yuan to make, earns 20 million at the box office and encourages more small-budget filmmakers.

2010: China's box office revenue reaches 10 billion yuan. Since 2003, box office revenue has risen by an average annual rise of 35 percent.