In recent years, almost every trans-border Chinese commercial movie has plunged into the vicious cycle of being popular but at the same time heavily criticized by the general public. With many angles to this issue, I think that the role of the audience in making sense of the movies cannot be ignored. This article tries to discuss the complicated ways in which the audiences are interpreting these trans-border Chinese movies. The study finds that trans-border Chinese movies are closely relevant to the imagination of China in the process of globalization and industrialization. To a large extent, criticism of trans-border Chinese movies is a reflection of the dissatisfaction of the imagination of China in the movies. At the same time, the excessive criticism of these films is also relevant to the identification and expression of grassroots Chinese audiences.