Promoting China's cultural soft power by disseminating modern Chinese values is a key policy under President Xi Jinping. It is usually understood as a top-down initiative, implemented willingly or unwillingly by writers, filmmakers, artists and other cultural actors, often manifesting itself in clumsy and heavy-handed ways, for example the concept of "the Chinese dream", intended to rival and perhaps surpass "the American dream." Yet, modern Chinese values have been in fact put forward in more complex and varied ways, particularly in screen culture. Through analyses of film...