The History of the Twentieth-Century Chinese Game Industry: The Practice of Domestic Games as Evidence

This chapter looks to the Chinese game industry of the twentieth century to illuminate the industry of today. The chapter proceeds in five sections. The first two sections discuss the early history of Chinese game machines, including the game console and the learning computer. The third section lists notable Chinese PC games from the 1990s and argues that the cultural crisis felt by players and employees during that time contributed to the emergence of domestic PC games. The fourth section examines the “China image” game, concluding that the term empties the concept of the domestic game of all meaning. The fifth section describes the end of the first generation of Chinese PC game companies.