China Synopsis
From New York City to the farmlands of the Midwest, there are 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., yet one dish in particular has conquered the American culinary landscape with a force befitting its military moniker—“General Tso’s Chicken.” But who was General Tso and how did this dish become so ubiquitous? Ian Cheney’s delightfully insightful documentary charts the history of Chinese Americans through the surprising origins of this sticky, sweet, just-spicy-enough dish that we’ve adopted as our own.
The 2013–2015 China Window
107 China films released in this three-year window, ranked here by audience rating. The Search for General Tso sits at position #42.
The 2010s China Landscape
Catalog density by release year in the 2010s. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The Search for General Tso premiered. 515 total titles in this decade from China.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #554 of 946 China films indexed here (41st percentile by TMDB audience score).
Among China Documentary productions specifically: #44 of 52 (top 85%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | China, Taiwan, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Production Companies | Sundance Selects, Wicked Delicate Films |
| Runtime | 1h 11m |
| Release Date | April 20, 2014 |
| IMDb | tt3576038 |
| Official Site | www.thesearchforgeneraltso.com |