2005 marks the centennial of China's film industry. To commemorate the event, the government of Sanya city in south China's island province of Hainan, is to build 3 "Movie Walls" at the city's Lu Hui Tou Plaza.

Each movie wall will be100 meters long by 6 meters tall and the total area covered by block of walls will be 1,800 square meters.

A large number of classic movie posters, photos of movie stars, introductions to particular films and other promotional materials will be printed on the walls to embody one hundred years of cinema in China.

The department in charge of the project is now proceding at full speed with the hope of completing the movie walls by the end of Chinese New Year, replacing the temporary walls that are now in position.

The permanent walls will also be designed to accommodate the hand-prints, body-prints or face-prints of the movie stars who attend the ceremony to mark the construction of the walls.

Valuable items of movie memorabilia will also be kept alongside the permanent movie walls.

In the future, the Sanya city government hopes to build a plaza extension to the wall, making it the first public square devoted to the theme of Chinese cinema.

(hkfilmart November 16, 2005)