Culture: From taboo to savior

US actor Tom Cruise takes a photo in Shanghai. [Photo/Xinhua]

Mission Impossible Ⅲ picked Shanghai as a shooting location. In the 120-minute movie, 40 minutes feature Chinese locations, including Oriental Pearl Tower, the 88-storey Jing Mao Tower, the Bank of China Building on the Bund and Huangpu River.

Among all forms of cultural exchanges between China and US, movies have the longest history and also the widest reach.

Still from Kung Fu Panda.

As early as the 1920s, "No Chinaman in the story" was upheld as an iron rule in Hollywood. However, nowadays so many Chinese elements are featured in Hollywood movies that Chinese faces and Chinese style have become a fashion. China has also become a synonym to hi-tech, reliable friends and even saviors in many great American movies, including Kung Fu Panda, Gravity, and Farewell Atlantis.

The changes are inseparable with the growth of China's comprehensive national strength and also the elevation of China's international prestige. Misunderstanding, prejudices and estrangement may remain for some time, but the changes are surely underway.