Using Zhang Yimou's cinematic practice as an example, this essay explores the confluence of industrial practices, creative prerequisites, textual strategies, and audience dynamics that lend a film its cross-cultural appeal. It further compares the strategies of transnational Chinese filmmakers to those of other "crouching tigers," filmmakers from other non-English speaking regional film markets who have stalked the cross-cultural ideal. The essay acknowledges the influence on transnational Chinese cinema of blockbuster practice perfected by Hollywood and emphasizes the frequently overlooked fact that the prominence of Hollywood as a vibrant film center has benefited from the status of the United States as a global economic and cultural super power.