Top critic rates the state of the mainland's film industry

Raymond Zhou, China's best-known film critic, has covered the mainland's film industry for 15 years. The author recently released a new book, A Practical Guide to Chinese Cinema 2002-2012 , which delves into the burgeoning film market. He talks to

I have made it a habit not to take hong bao from film companies. One year, I watched a preview and left before they started handing out hong bao, and I got a text message asking for my bank account. The film company said it would deposit [the money] in my account. I said: "Thank you, but I'm already paid by my employer." The company blacklisted me. At an open screening I was kicked out when someone from the company spotted me in the audience. About 10 minutes into the movie there was an announcement: "Raymond Zhou, please come out. Or we will stop the screening!" I became the only film critic in Chinese history who was kicked out of a screening.

Most of my film writing runs in the Chinese-language press, and I reserve only a few topics for China Daily whose readership is mostly expatriates and people outside China. The only time I ran into a little problem was with another state-run newspaper, whose editors asked me for a review of The Founding of a Republic, which was widely considered a propaganda film. I texted the editor that I liked it, but for reasons he might not have expected. I said it's subversive in its undercurrents and my review would make that clear. And he said: "Sorry, we cannot run that." There are reviews I want to write but cannot publish, but I don't make any compromises with anything that is published. I'd rather not say anything than say things that may misrepresent my opinions.

People tend to say extreme things on blogs or microblogs simply for sensationalism. These internet platforms provide an alternative, but the best writing is still in traditional media because the best writers tend to get a lot of requests from editors.