The Chinese director told why the People's Republic of China loves Russian military cinema

The Chinese audience is interested in the history of the Soviet Union, and therefore shows interest in Russian military cinema.

This was stated by director, screenwriter and producer Jia Zhangke in an interview with journalists at the opening of the Russian Military Film Festival in China on Monday.
"I think the Chinese audience understands the history of Russia, in particular the history of the Soviet Union, the times of the Great Patriotic War," he said, answering the question why Russian military cinema is popular in China. "China is very interested in films on such topics, because they show the opposition to fascism, the struggle for independence," he said.
According to the director, another reason why Chinese viewers love Russian military films is related to the peculiarities of Chinese education in the field of cinema. According to Jia Zhangke, in the 50s and 60s of the last century, many Chinese students went to study in Moscow, and therefore the Soviet school had a great influence on many Chinese directors.
The festival of Russian military cinema opened in China on Monday, the opening ceremony was held at the cinema at the Museum of the History of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the Chinese capital. The screening will be held in Beijing from September 6 to 10, as well as in Changsha (the administrative center of Hunan Province) from September 8 to 12. As part of the screening, six Russian films about the war will be shown: "Height 89", "Zoya", "Match", "Podolsk cadets", "Rubezh", as well as"T-34". The films will be shown in Russian with Chinese subtitles.
Jia Zhangke was born in 1970 in Shanxi Province in northern China. The most famous work of the director, which brought him the Venetian "Golden Lion", was the film "Still Life" (2006). In 2008, Jia Zhangke's film "City 24" was presented for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2017, Jia Zhangke launched the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon International Film Festival. Russian films traditionally take part in this festival, in 2020 the film "Whaler" directed by Philip Yuryev won the main prize of the film review.