In “The Shawshank Redemption,” a man wrongfully convicted of murder defies prison officials to pull off a daring escape. Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times

‘Shawshank’ opens in China

When a stage production of “The Shawshank Redemption” opened recently in China, it was cast entirely with Western actors speaking fluent Mandarin Chinese. That may be the least surprising part of the show; the fact that it was staged at all defies several cultural trends.

Chinese audiences’ interest in Hollywood is fading, but the American film is still the highest-rated movie on Douban, a crowdsourced review site, out of all films — not just Chinese ones. Censorship has also tightened, and the film, with its themes of resistance, has been censored before. And China’s authoritarian government has also stoked nationalism and cast Western influence as a political pollutant.

But the production moved forward, albeit with modifications, reflecting how artists are navigating the changing landscape of what is permissible and what is marketable in China. And its success shows the appetite that many Chinese still have for cultural exchange.