The 37th Hundred Flowers Awards kicked off on Friday in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, where nine awards will be given out of 15 nominated films.
The three-day event consists of six main activities, including the opening ceremony, nominee recognition ceremony, forum and screening.
The results of the award-winning films will be announced on Saturday night. Nine awards, including best film, outstanding film, best screenplay, best director, leading actor/actress, supporting actor/actress and best young star, will be selected from 15 hot films in one year, including Home Coming, Chang An and Article 20.
During the event, the city's public can watch films for free in cinemas and open-air venues after booking through the mobile application.
Founded in 1962 as a national literary award, the Hundred Flowers Award for Popular Cinema is the oldest major award in the Chinese film industry.
37th Hundred Flowers Awards opens, 9 awards to be announced
A delegation of 40 students and teachers from seven Chinese mainland universities arrived at Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport on Wednesday, embarking on their nine-day visit to the island.
Invited by the Taiwan-based Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation, the delegation is led by Qiu Yong, chairman of Tsinghua University Council.
The delegation includes table tennis Olympic champion Ma Long studying at Beijing Sport University, and air rifle Olympic champion Yang Qian studying at Tsinghua University.
"I came from Taipei today, and I arrived at Taoyuan Airport at 09:30 because I was worried that there would be too many people here. I brought the photos that my friends sent me today, and I'm very happy. I also wrote a letter to Ma Long because I was worried that I would be too excited if I really saw him in person. We welcome students from the mainland to come to Taiwan for exchanges, and wish them to enjoy delicious food and drink and have fun here," said Lai Chin-hsuan, a Taiwan resident.
This is the second delegation of mainland teachers and students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, following the first delegation in July last year.
The delegation visited a high school on Wednesday afternoon as scheduled.
Hsiao Hsu-tsen, executive director of the foundation, said exchanges and contacts between young people of the mainland and Taiwan region are very important to the development of cross-Strait relations.
"When I arrived earlier, the fans had already lining up at the airport a few hours in advance, so I really think this is a very exciting phenomenon. It means that no matter how depressed the cross-Strait relationship is, sports and youth exchanges will always be common topics and language between the two sides. College students and high school students on both sides of the Taiwan Strait need to know each other very much. I think it is very meaningful to have so many top mainland students visit our most outstanding high school in Taiwan today," said Hsiao.
Besides the high school, the delegation is scheduled to visit some universities, the Taipei 101 tower and the Taipei Palace Museum from Nov 28 to 30. It will also visit the Sun Moon Lake, participate in a baseball activity and visit another historical museum from Dec 1 to 4.
Delegation of mainland university students, teachers embarks on Taiwan visit
