Gary D. Rawnsley is currently Professor of Asian International Communications at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, UK. Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley is Research Fellow at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, UK. Their most recent jointly edited publications include Political Communications in Greater China: The Construction and Reflection of Identity (also published by Routledge) and Critical Security, Democratisation and Television in Taiwan.

Director Zhang Yimou's film Hero, released in 2002, is widely regarded as the first globally successful indigenous Chinese blockbuster, touching on key questions of Chinese culture, nation and politics. This book explores the reasons for the film's popularity with its audiences, and provides fascinating insights into recent developments in Chinese society, popular culture and cultural production.

Part I: Changing Discourse of National Identities and Heroism 1. The Political Narrative(s) of Hero - Gary D. Rawnsley 2. Recycled Heroes, Invented Tradition and Transformed Identity - Yingjie Guo 3. The Emperor and the Assassin: China's National Hero and the Myth of State Origins - Yiyan Wang 4. The King, the Musician and the Village Idiot: Images of Manhood - Kam Louie Part II: Transformations of Cultural Perception, Genre and Stardom 5. Twenty-first Century Women Warriors: Variations on a Traditional Theme - Louise Edwards 6. On 'Tian Xia (All under Heaven)' in Zhang Yimou's Hero - Xiaoming Chen and Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley 7. Hero: Rewriting the Chinese Martial Arts Film Genre - Haizhou Wang and Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley 8. 'Would You Rather Spend More Time Making Serious Cinema?': Hero and Tony Leung's Polysemic Masculinity - Mark Gallagher 9. Fifteen Minutes of Fame: Transient/Transnational Female Stardom in Hero - Olivia Khoo Part III: Local vs. Global: Deconstructing Global Chinese Blockbusters 10. Camp Pleasure in an Era of Chinese Blockbusters: Internet Reception of Hero in Mainland China - Sabrina Qiong Yu 11. North American Reception of Zhang Yimou's Hero - Wendy Larson 12. Heroic Music: From Hunan to Hollywood and Back - Katy Gow 13. Visual Effects Magic: Hero's Sydney Connection - Mary Farquhar 14.Towards a Global Blockbuster: The Political Economy of Hero's Nationalism - Anthony Fung and Joseph M. Chan