對於中國電影本身的問題性定義進行再處理，已成為中國電影研究晚近的學術潮流。許多晚近的學術研究挑戰「中國」這個概念本身，質疑它是否可以作為一種文化或（跨）國族的身分認同，而且它們抗拒將「中國」這個詞語當作是當然之詞，對它持續地進行定義和問題化處理。就這個問題而言，晚近主要有三個學術進路：「中國民族電影」這個特定理論模型的肯定及問題化；將中國電影當作是一個由不同區域的電影所組成的範疇；中國電影的全球或跨國面向。透過檢視這些學術潮流，本文論證存有將中國電影建制為一個邏輯一致和合法的學術學科的強烈學術趨力，但此一建制化過程之達成乃是透過否定「中國電影」此一名稱本身。

There is a recent academic trend in the studies of Chinese cinema of reiterating the problematic definition of Chinese cinema itself. Much recent scholarship challenges the very notion of "Chinese" as a cultural and (trans) national identity, and they resist taking the term "Chinese" for granted, but the definition and the problematization of such only persist. There are three main approaches to the problem detected in recent scholarship: the assertion and the problematization of the specific model of "Chinese national cinema"; Chinese cinema as a category composed of different regional cinemas; and the global and transnational dimensions of Chinese cinema. Through a survey of these scholarly trends, this article demonstrates the strong academic drive to institutionalize Chinese cinema as a coherent and legitimate academic discipline, but this institutionalization is achieved through the negation of the very name of "Chinese cinema" itself.