Using the Mandarin-language global blockbuster Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as a case, this project aims to study how an oriental culture is globalized against the odds as predicted by theories of cultural imperialism. First, the globalization of local talents is found to be a precondition for this reversed cultural flow. Second, the formation of a global-local alliance, consisting of networks of both local and global firms and professionals, plays a critical role. The alliance serves to translate local cultural capital into economic capital and to enhance the transculturability of the cultural product. To be accountable to the Western agencies and to be faithful to local culture, the production team is under constant pressure to strike a balance between particularization and universalization. The implications of this unprecedented case are discussed.
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