Abstract: Bearing discrete imagination like those mandarin films in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the 1950—1970s, Ang lee' s films try to attract Chinese people all over the world through the construction of cultural China. As a cultural community independent on regions and politics, cultural China is represented in Ang lee' s films by distinctive culture symbols, reoccurrence of panChina space and depiction of panChinese fathers. Essentially speaking, the imagination of cultural China can be viewed as a kind of power discourse as well as a cultural and political tool. It is the way in which Lee communicates with both other cultures in the multicultural world and with Chinese regional cultures of the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Therefore, the Chinese imagination in Ang Lee' s movies not only explores the cultural differences between China and western countries but also tries to go beyond those within China. Although it means Ang Lee' s movies have to construct a kind of generalized cultural imagination, but their production and reception show that the imagination of cultural China cannot separate itself from the diversified and differentiated Chinese identity and experiences.

Key words: discrete, China' s imagination, cultural China