13
Nov
6th Annual Symposium on Pop Culture and International Law: Between Official Narratives and Popular Imagination – International Law in China’s New Mainstream Films
[Lu Yaoyao is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong.] The 2026 Chinese film Once Upon a Time in the Middle East tells the story of an ordinary Chinese protagonist caught in a foreign conflict. Unlike earlier Chinese new mainstream films, the film approaches war through everyday experiences and personal encounters. These different cinematic perspectives...