During no previous century in China’s long history has society experienced more profound and far-reaching changes than during that nation’s long twentieth century. The contact with Western modernity and institutional change during the late Qing dynasty, the end of dynastic rule and the birth of the Republic, the Pacific War and the Civil War, the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan’s gradual democratization and finally the era of opening and reform in China under Deng Xiaoping 鄧小平 (1904−97) and the ensuing economic rise are only some of the key historical events that have profoundly transformed Chinese society and culture. What these events have in common is that they all gave rise to various forms of displacement, both voluntary and involuntary, and both internally within China proper as well as from China to the outside world. This special issue intends to explore the degree to which displacement in the form of travel, migration, and exile has given rise to modern literary and cinematic works and how intellectuals, writers, and filmmakers have responded to the various forms of displacement in their works. The theme of this special issue is deliberately broad in scope. The editors believe that only if studied over the entire span of the twentieth century and in all its various facets can the impact of displacement on the creative imagination of Chinese writers and filmmakers be adequately explored
