Abstract:  In the 21st century, Chinese film production has been increasing year by year, and the box office continues to rise. China has emerged as one of the leading players in the global market of filmmaking, which owes a lot to the domestically produced “blockbusters”. But are they really the panacea that would prevent China's film industry from being completely annexed by Hollywood movies? Based on textual analysis, this paper is to compare“Saving Private Ryan”(1998), a“high concept”Hollywood movie, and China’s blockbuster“Flowers of War”(2011) in terms of aesthetic styles and narrative strategies in the hope of providing some useful insights and reflections on this issue. The paper argues that with Hollywood movies becoming threateningly ambitious and coveting, China’s film industry, if it is to really break into the global film market, has to seriously work out the balance of the local and the global (concerning subject matters and themes) and the simple and the complex (concerning narrative strategies and aesthetic features).
 

Key words: “High Concept”movies, blockbusters, classic Hollywood movies, artistic mood or conception, “Flowers of Wars”, “Saving Private Ryan”