The Chinese Communist Party has slashed the number of foreign movies its censors approve for screening and distribution, in a sign that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is keen to isolate the country culturally from the rest of the world, commentators told RFA on Monday.To get more news about new chinese movies, you can visit shine news official website.

Chinese movie-goers were able to see just 38 foreign films in the first 10 months of this year, a sharp fall from 73 for the whole of 2021 and 136 in 2019.

Industry reports said the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar 2 had passed an initial review by the State Radio, Film and Television agency, but is now stuck in limbo, as it hasn't yet received a public performance license.

The last foreign film to be released in China was the 2022 re-release of "Jaws," on Aug. 26.

Vice minister for propaganda Sun Yeli told a news conference in August that the fall in foreign film imports was due to a number of factors, but hinted at "higher standards" being applied to U.S. films.

"Our principle, position and attitude toward exchanges between the Chinese and foreign movie industries are consistent, clear and remain unchanged," Sun said.

U.S. films accounted for 41% of imported movies over the past decade, with 33 grossing more than one billion yuan (U.S. $138 million), and five more than two billion, he said.

"We noticed that U.S. films have been dwindling in the share of the Chinese market. I think there are various reasons for that," he said.

"We are ready to introduce foreign films from any country as long as it can produce the good films that cater to the needs and interests of Chinese audiences," Sun said in comments quoted by the English-language China Daily newspaper at the time.

He said movie producers needed to "respect the cultures, traditions and interests of audiences" and produce "higher-quality" films.A teacher surnamed Qian in the eastern province of Zhejiang said the Communist Party is worried that foreign movies will have too much of an impact on children.

"Foreign films show foreign values and attitudes towards life, which can have a subtle effect on people in China," Qian told RFA. "They want people to be totally obedient to the state, and individuals to [belong to the state]."

Film distribution industry insider Huang He said it's not just foreign films that have been affected by tighter censorship. Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy has also dealt a mortal blow to the domestic film industry.

"The entire industry is moribund," Huang told RFA. "Only 60% of movie theaters in the country are open right now."

"There are various reasons, including the pandemic, economic issues and so on," she said.

She said China currently has an annual agreement with Hollywood to import 34 U.S.-made films, with Hollywood producers taking around 25% of mainland Chinese box office revenues.

Huang said there is currently a de facto ban on Korean movies, while no Japanese live action films are getting approval; only anime.

"Nobody dares to [distribute] movies outside of the [official] agreement, because even if they bought [the rights], the movie might not pass the review process, and could wind up never being released for various reasons," Huang said.

"Some films aren't getting released even after passing the [censors'] review process," she said. "The main reason is that they don't want people to see them, and the same is true for mainland Chinese films."