Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo

Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo will join hands with China Film Group to shoot the tragic romance "Tai Ping Lun"(previously known as "1949") following his wartime epic, "Red Cliff".

Beijing Star Daily reports that director John Woo reached a partnership agreement with China Film Group Wednesday night, the Group's president, Han Sanping, revealed on Thursday.

This marks their second collaboration, following their first joint production of "Red Cliff", which is expected to bag about 100 million US dollars in total box office.

The new big-budget Chinese-language film begins at the end of World War II and is based on real events that took place during the final years of the Chinese Civil War, right up to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The film, starring rising Taiwan star Chang Chen and Korean A-list actressSong Hye-kyo, centers on the love, life and death stories of three pairs of lovers. Song Hye-kyo is reportedly practicing hard to improve her Mandarin.

The screenplay was written by "Lust, Caution" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" screenwriter Wang Hui-ling.

According to documents, the overloaded cruise liner was bound for Taiwan from Chinese mainland. It sank on the voyage after colliding with a cargo ship on the night of Jan 27, 1949, resulting in deaths of about a thousand celebrities onboard.

The cruiser that sank on that fateful night is sometimes referred to as the Oriental Titanic.

(CRI March 13, 2009)