A pioneering study of the startlingly original films by Chinese filmmakers of the 1980s, such as Judou, Raise the Red Lantern, and Farewell My Concubine. These films bring into vivid relief changes in Chinese society over several decades, drawing on interviews with directors including Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Tian Zhuangzhuang.

Paul Clark's Chinese Cinema: Culture and Politics since 1949 was a groundbreaking book, and in Reinventing China, Clark continues his exploration of the changes in Chinese society and culture since the 1960s.