The explosion in independent documentary production in China that has been traced across the five chapters of this book is but one illustration of the nation's incredible pace of change in the contemporary era. The very first films made outside state channels in the People's Republic were only produced twenty-five years ago. From the late 1990s, independent documentary has grown from the preserve of a handful of former television workers in Beijing to a nascent public sphere involving producers from many walks of life and an even broader viewing public. China's communications landscape generally has been radically altered since the opening years of this century by digital technologies such as mobile phones, digital cameras and, most importantly, the Internet. Yet politically the country remains in stasis.

Although the alternative public sphere of independent documentary is barely fifteen years old, in the time it took to write this book it often felt like I was already describing an era in independent Chinese documentary that may already be passing. Since 2011, the nascent public sphere I have described has been in danger of disappearing under the weight of pressure brought to bear by a party unwilling to relinquish either its political power or efforts to control public discourse. Concurrent with the forced closure of independent film festivals across the country, non-governmental organisations in the documentary realm such as IFChina Original Studio have been shut down or face severe difficulties operating. Non-governmental organisations operating in other areas such as environmental protection face similar problems. Rights defence lawyers have been harshly persecuted and many law firms working on cases related to social justice have had their licences revoked. Harassment of independent filmmakers has intensified and the number of films being produced somewhat reduced, although the nature of the independent field makes it difficult to ascertain anything like precise production numbers.

The harshest punitive measures directed at an independent documentarian have been against the Tibetan director Dhondup Wangchen, who was imprisoned in 2009 on charges of subversion arising from his documentary Leaving Fear Behind (2008). This film comprises a series of interviews with ordinary Tibetans expressing their views on topics such as the Beijing Olympics, the Dalai Lama and the human rights situation in their homeland. For making and disseminating this work, Dhondup Wangchen was sentenced to six years in jail. He was finally released in June 2014.