The Oriental Divine Dragon Film Company will have a registered capital of 30 million Yuan (US$3.61 million) and be jointly run by the Poly Group Corporation of China and the Changchun Film Studio.

This joint ownership pools the advantages of both sides: talent and skills from the Changchun Film Studio, the "cradle of new China's films" and the wealth of the Poly Group Corporation of China, renowned for buying up relics once belonging to the Yuanmingyuan, the imperial garden destroyed over 140 years ago.

This is the second film company to be set up by a corporation and a film studio. The first was founded in 2001 by the China Film Corporation and China International Trust and Investment Corporation.

The two new filmmakers are hoping to stimulate the national film industry in the future, said Han Zhijun, deputy general manager of the Changchun Film Studio.

Han said they have learnt a lot from the Republic of Korea ROK) where there has been a national film making revival, with business giants like Samsung and Hyundai having a stake in producing high quality films.

The ROK's domestic film sector was sluggish before 1997, but it began to perk up in 2001. Now 47 percent of the films being screened nationally are local films compared to 18 percent prior to 1997, according to a Changchun Film Studio study carried out in October 2001.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2002)