Abstract: In the early period, the idea of“shadow play’s Chinese origin”was very popular in film reviews：the Han dynasty’s image lamps, the Song dynasty’s shadow plays, and even the shadow shows and revolving picture-lanterns in Luanzhou of the time were used as evidence. This is actually a reflection of Chinese film critics’ideology, which argues that“Western learning comes from China”. This idea from the very beginning falls into a biased cultural self-conceitedness, revealing a complicated mentality - trying to maintain the historical and traditional culture while using foreign modes to examine the Chinese tradition.“Cutting one’s toes to fit the shoes”and deliberately elevating oneself are both inevitable. ecognizing the fact that shadow plays come from China but unfortunately are not carried forward and advanced to filmmaking is an attitude worthy of appreciation. It is also this paper’s discourse strategy to encourage the Chinese filmmaking industry to become stronger and more independent.

Key words: early-period filmmaking, film criticism, “Western learning comes from China”, shadow play