The list of great people goes on and on. Jackie Chan is awesome and Jet Li kicks ass, perpetuating the stereotype that all Asians know martial arts. "Crouching Tiger" director Ang Lee is now making "The Hulk," potentially another empty Hollywood franchise film. Hurrah for Chinese people! Hurrah!

Yes, Chinese people have become a presence on the silver screen, but there are caveats to such statements. Where are the Chinese dramatic leading men and ladies? Where are the Chinese directors who are praised by critics but get the most limited film distribution and advertising?

The answer to those questions is obvious: They're in China! If you want leading men, you can choose from Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung. For leading women you have Gong Li and Maggie Cheung. As for directors, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou ("Shanghai Triad"), and Chen Kaige ("Farewell My Concubine") have all had films nominated for that small award known as the Oscar.

Even so, one wonders why they remain so obscure. Is it a vast conspiracy keeping you from knowing about and seeing good stuff?

Perhaps there's no conspiracy, but Chinese films get no institutional help from Hollywood. For example, Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (made for $15 million) earned less than $1 million in its opening weekend in American theaters on only 16 screens.

Compare this to "Pearl Harbor" (made for $150 million), which was initially released to 3214 theaters in the United States alone and generated $75 million in its opening weekend.

"Pearl Harbor's" 3198-screen edge over "Crouching Tiger" means that those in big cities like Los Angeles and New York saw the latter, but filmgoers in smaller cities only read about it. Had the whole world lined up to see the film, 16 screens could still not generate half of what "Pearl Harbor" earned its opening weekend. It stinks when distributors like Sony Pictures Classics, which released "Crouching Tiger," did not dare risk a wide release until the mass audience virtually demanded it. Its gross of $128 million made "Crouching Tiger" the most bankable foreign film of all time, with an even higher profit margin than "Pearl Harbor."

Of course, "Crouching Tiger" represents a special case. The perfect marriage of mature filmmaking, Chinese period dramas and Hong Kong martial arts films, "Crouching Tiger" has become the benchmark for action choreography. Yet people who loved – or even hated – the excessive flying and swordplay need not give up on other Chinese films.

Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee have done oodles to get recognition for Chinese filmmakers, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. Ang Lee also made smaller films, such as "The Wedding Banquet" and "Eat Drink Man Woman" – both Oscar nominees. Wong Kar Wai's films, such as "Chungking Express," catapulted Tony Leung into People magazine's sexiest newcomer of 2000. John Woo, who seems to have made a Faustian bargain with Hollywood on "Mission Impossible 2," has made substantial Hong Kong films, such as "A Better Tomorrow," with inventive action, dynamic characters and story to boot.

It's true that Chinese films cannot match the dazzling special effects of their American competitors or Hollywood's advertising blitzkriegs. Yet, what Sinowood lacks in finances, it makes up for with creativity. Jackie Chan's body itself is a special effect, able to do stunts such as jumping off tall skyscrapers and using an umbrella to hang off a moving bus. Of course, these stunts would be easier and less dangerous if Chan had safety precautions or computer graphics, but hey, he didn't have the money for it.

Creativity also finds itself in auteur films, especially in Taiwan. Along with Ang Lee, directors such as Edward Yang ("Yi Yi"), Hou Hsiao Hsien ("Flowers of Shanghai") and Tsai Ming Liang ("Vive L'Amour") grew up in Taiwan and make it the subject of their films. Like Kubrick and Altman, the new Taiwanese auteurs feature personal stories, characters and styles. In fact, Tsai's new film "What Time is it There?" has the same actor playing the same character in all his films. The film's run in L.A. ended after a week, yet another example of bad distribution.

Some Chinese films are so creative and progressive that they have yet to be shown in China. While Hollywood films such as "Titanic" are often shown there, Chinese-made movies may not be. An example is Wang Xiao Shuai's "Beijing Bicycle," currently showing in L.A. A film critical of the poverty and chaos in Beijing, it has yet to pass the Chinese censorship boards, which characteristically demand patriotic or sentimental messages and happy endings – sounds like Hollywood, doesn't it?

In many cases, the Chinese film playing in your cinema was banned from China itself. You as an American have the potential to see more Chinese films than a person in China does. Take advantage of this phenomenon before the stench of martial arts stereotypes – "Kung Pow," anyone? – has become indelible.