China's booming film market is tantalising but hard to crack. 中国蓬勃的电影市场充满诱惑但难以进入。

　　"My name is The Future." So declares a heroic Chinese astronaut in Mandarin after saving the life of Stephen Colbert, an American comedian, during a recent episode of the "Late Show". 在最近一集美国深夜秀中，当一个讲着普通话的太空英雄拯救了美国著名喜剧演员Stephen Colbert 后，他说：我的名字叫未来。

　　Dubbed the Pander Express, the sketch mocked how far Hollywood studios are willing to go in modifying their movies to pander to national pride and curry favour with Chinese officials. 在刚刚配音好的《熊猫大侠》中，故事也暗讽着好莱坞制作公司愿意修改电影内容想要迎合民族自豪感及讨好中国官员的急切感。

　　American film studios are desperate to win approval for releases in China because its film market is rocketing. 美国的电影制作公司急切渴望获得中国的审批发布，因为这里的电影市场正在急速上升。

　　From 2003 to 2010 box-office receipts on the mainland grew by an annual rate of more than 40% on average. 从2003年到2010年，内地票房收入以年均逾40%的速度增长。

　　In 2012 Chinese film revenues passed those of Japan, then the second-biggest market. 在2012年，中国的电影收入超过当时第二大市场的日本。

　　Chinese box-office receipts are forecast to top $10 billion a year by 2017, when China will be closing in on America as the world's biggest market. 预计到2017年，中国的年均票房收入预测将超过100亿美元，届时中国将接近世界最大市场美国的票房。

　　No wonder, then, that Western entertainment firms have been ploughing money into China. 所以西方娱乐公司投入大规模资金进入中国也就不足为奇了。

　　IMAX, which specialises in large-screen theatres, floated shares in its China division earlier this month to finance a big expansion there. 专营大幕影院的IMAX在本月早些时候增资募股，为其子公司在中国市场的大扩张筹集资金。

　　In September Warner Brothers announced a joint venture with China Media Capital, a local investment firm, to produce movies palatable to China tastes. 9月份，华纳兄弟影片公司宣布与中国本土华人文化产业投资基金合资制作符合中国口味的电影。

　　CMC is also an investor in Oriental DreamWorks, a local entity collaborating with DreamWorks, an American studio, to make the next in the “Kung Fu Panda” series. 华人文化产业投资基金还是东方梦工厂的投资人，东方梦工厂是一家中国本土载体，正与美国梦工厂电影公司合作制作《功夫熊猫》系列的下一部作品。

　　Hollywood should beware the siren song. 好莱坞应当警惕美妙的海妖歌声。

　　“The aggregate growth in numbers suggests the streets are paved with gold, but it's not that easy,” warns Peter Shiao of Orb Media, an independent production and finance company. 独立制作与金融公司Orb传媒集团的Peter Shiao警告说，从数字的总增长上看仿佛前面的路都是金子铺成的，但是事情并不是那么容易。

　　There are only two ways for films made abroad to enter the Chinese market: 34 big foreign productions a year are let in via a quota system;  电影要进入中国市场只有两条路可走：每年只有34部外国大型影片通过配额制度进入中国市场；

　　Chinese firms are also allowed to acquire the rights to 30 to 40 smaller foreign films a year for a fixed fee. 中国公司以固定价格每年买断30到40部小型外国影片的放映权。

　　Because distribution of foreign films is controlled by politicised state-owned entities, even an easing of these quotas—as is now rumoured—will not help much. 由于外国影片的发行由政治化的国有实体控制，因此即便放松配额——像现在谣传的那样——也没有多大作用。

　　Liu Cuiping of EntGroup, a research firm, points out that the film-opening schedule is an important protectionist tool. 研究公司艺恩咨询的刘翠萍强调，电影放映安排是一个重要的保护主义工具。

　　This July, typically a big month for movies, for example, no new Hollywood blockbusters were permitted on Chinese screens. 例如，今年在一般属于电影热门档期的7月份，没有一部好莱坞大片获准在中国影院上映。

　　She adds that subsidies and preferential taxation also favour local firms. 她还说，补贴与税收优惠也对中国本土电影有利。