The Chinese government has been creating a favorable environment for filmmakers in terms of policy and market to promote domestic film development, said Zhao Shi, deputy director general of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

Zhao made the remarks at the ongoing Fortune Global Forum's Culture Roundtable Monday in Beijing.

The Chinese government has launched a series of policies to promote China's film industry, she said. Under the guidelines, young film artists have mushroomed and created films winning international acclaim, including director Zhang Yimou's Hero and The House of Flying Daggers and director Lu Chuan's Kekexili: Mountain Patrol.

"Chinese government encourages art innovation and supports film cultural diversity across the world," she said.

"The topic of Kekexili: Mountain Patrol is sensitive," said director Lu at the Culture Roundtable, "and the film is jointly produced by a private enterprise and a US film company. Such films would have had to pass strict censor processes in the past, but it's not necessary today and Kekexili passes the censor with only a story skeleton."

Kekexili, Lu's second feature, is based on the true story of a journalist who joins a Tibetan volunteer patrol chasing a ring of poachers trading in antelope wool. The film features the bleakness of Tibet, the rural poverty and scenes of "sky burial" funeral rites, making the film controversial.

The film was a coproduction of Huayi Brothers and Columbia Pictures.

China has been introducing more private and overseas funds to build its film infrastructure.

China has set up about 3,000 professional cinemas including about 1,300 modern cinemas and about 160 digital ones, and the country is also upgrading film projection technology and systems in the vast rural areas, Zhao said.

Chinese film operators have been trying to cooperate with the telecom operators to send film snippets to cellphone users to maximize the film value.

China has been encouraging overseas investors to cooperate with Chinese filmmakers. No limitation would be imposed on the films jointly made by domestic and overseas investors and the coproduction could be released as the domestic ones.

"China introduces about 50 American blockbusters each year, far more than what the country promised at the World Trade Organization entry," Zhao said.

"China will go on enlarging the opening up in the film industry in the future," Zhao said.

China shot 212 films last year, the most in history, and reported 1.5 billion yuan (US$181 million ) of box office grosses, up nearly 60 percent from the previous year.

Among the films, shown in 24 countries, 12 films have won 16 awards at 14 international film festivals.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2005)