Chinese cinema is one of the oldest cinemas but, for many reasons, it had remained largely unknown to the outside world until the 1980s. From then on, the Chinese cinema entered a brand new phase and enjoyed tremendous glory; the 'Fifth Generation directors' won hundreds of awards at film festivals all over the world. Nonetheless, the glory started fading at the beginning of the new millennium. After a brief retrospective survey of the cinema evolution, Tan Ye will discuss three major traditions that fostered the Chinese cinema and then analyze the new trends that appeared during the economic boom of the last decade.