Jay Chou in helmet

This magazine has been published since 1999, when it was called Look Movie View (Look 看电影 ). In 2001, it changed its name to Movie View, and increased its frequency from monthly to fortnightly. Now it publishes three issues per month, and is widely considered to be the most popular magazine of its kind.

This magazine's publication licence belongs to Emei Film Studio (峨嵋电影制片厂). The editorial offices are apparently in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The advertising department is in Shanghai.

Movie View made its name by translating foreign movie reviews and introducing foreign movies, especially Hollywood films. It soon attracted a stable of movie buff freelance writers who have cemented its position as the best film magazine in China.

Interestingly enough, most of the foreign movies in this magazine are only available in China on pirate DVD or by download from pirate websites.

The latest issue's cover features Curse of the Golden Flower (满城尽带黄金甲), a new work by China's most famous director Zhang Yimou, which premieres in Los Angeles and Beijing later today.

UPDATE: From Raymond Zhou

It happens that I'm the first columnist for that magazine and have been writing that column for five years now.

There are a few things in the posting on Danwei that I know to be incorrect:

1. The editorial office was in Harbin for the first few years, and then moved to Shanghai. It has never been in Chengdu. The publishing license of the magazine does belong to Emei Film Studio in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. And the studio has one person who does a last-minute proof-reading of each issue before it is sent to the printer. Other than that, the whole editorial staff is based in Shanghai.

To most readers, it is often known by the brand of the real publisher Dazui (Big Mouth), which owns several magazines. The most successful is Dangdai Getan (Modern Pop Scene), which has an even wider circulation than Movie View.

2. It translates movie previews and some interviews, but all of its reviews are original.

3. I was accused of "encouraging movie piracy" when I first started writing for them. Readers thought I wrote about those movies by watching pirated disks. Actually I watched all those movies in movie theaters in the US. The only similarity is: I didn't pay for my movies. Movie studios usually gave me free tickets. The same here in China.