Winners of the 37th Hundred Flowers Awards, one of the longest-standing and most prestigious honors in the Chinese film industry, were announced in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan in southwest China, on Sunday.
Zhang Yimou took home the Best Director Award for his comedy film "Article 20," inspired by real-life cases about justified defense.
This was the eighth time the 74-year-old director won the Hundred Flowers awards, but the first time to win as best director.
Article 20 also earned Ma Li the Best Actress Award, while Best Actor Award went to Zhu Yilong for the film Lighting Up the Stars, a feel-good tale depicting the father-daughter-like relationship between an orphaned girl and a funeral director.
Director Chen Kaige's epic The Volunteers: To the War, which panoramically retells the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53), won the Best Film Award.
Chang'an, the animated blockbuster hit of last summer, won the Excellent Film Award.
Initiated in 1962, the awards were the first cinematic honors generated through audience voting in China.
Hundred Flowers Awards winners 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
