A nationwide campaign is mounting featuring a movie with an all-star cast, exhibitions of rare historic photos, concerts, and renovations of historic sites to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy and ushered China into a new era.
The movie "Xinhai Revolution," which will premiere on Sept. 23, is another star-studded film made to mark an important historic event, like "Beginning of the Great Revival" this year and "The Founding of a Republic" in 2009.
In 1911, protests and armed uprisings took place across China against the monarchy of the Qing Dynasty. These events led to both the overthrow of the country's last emperor and to the founding of the Republic of China on Jan. 1, 1912.
As 1911 was called Xinhai in the Chinese way of numbering years, the revolution is named Xinhai Revolution.
The movie features Hong Kong's kung fu star Jackie Chan as Huang Xing, a key figure who led revolutionary events of 1911.
Winston Chao from Taiwan plays Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionary forerunner and leader of the revolution. The actor, who made his debut in Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet," has appeared as Sun in five movies.
Chinese mainland actress Li Bingbing plays Huang's wife, Xu Zonghan. Li was a lead actress in Wayne Wang's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," which came out this year.
In addition to showing in China, the film is likely to be screened in North America.
Ren Zhonglun, the film's director, told Xinhua that he hopes to attract a younger audience with movie stars, a modern storyline and new technologies.
"Movies can be a more vivid way than textbooks for today's people to learn about history and understand our ancestors," Ren said.
In addition to the movie, other events have been or will be held to mark the 1911 Revolution.
On Oct. 10, a grand evening gala will be held in Wuhai, capital of central China's Hubei Province. An armed uprising happened there 100 years ago which triggered uprisings across the country in the following months, and has been considered the beginning of the Revolution.
A new museum on the 1911 Revolution, with an exhibition area of 6,800 square meters, will be opened to the public in Wuhan on Oct. 6.
Sun Yat-sen's hometown of Zhongshan, a city in south China's Guangdong Province, will host about 100 commemorative events this year, mostly in September and October.
In east China's Zhejiang Province, an exhibition of more than 400 rare historic photos of the Revolution kicked off on Sept. 7. Zhejiang Province is the home of many key figures in the revolution, including Cai Yuanpei, Zhang Taiyan and Qiu Jin.
The Tour of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Macao Revolutionary Trail will be held in Macao on Saturday to mark the 100th anniversary of the Revolution.
Participants in the guided tour will see historic sites related to Sun and his activities in the Revolution.
