Chinese anti-war film turns film shooting base into popular travel destination

The trending Chinese anti-war film "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" has put Shitanjing, a film shooting base in Shizuishan City of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, in the spotlight.

With its rugged Gobi landscapes, vast deserts and striking industrial ruins, the former coal-mining town was transformed into a Middle Eastern setting for the film.

The heavily guarded military checkpoint seen in the movie is actually Shitanjing's iconic stone gatehouse, now one of the most popular photo spots in the area, drawing fans who visit specifically after watching the film.

"Yesterday I took my child to see this movie together. It just so happened that I learned it was filmed right here in our local area, so I really wanted to come to this film shooting base to experience the movie-making atmosphere firsthand," said Gao, a visitor.

"My husband used to work here, so we came for a sort of reminiscence. It's changed a lot, but you can still see traces of the past. The old buildings are all still here," said Li, another visitor.

"The building on our left here used to be called Fuxing Building, also known as Fuxing Department Store. Both sides of the street were lined with tin-roofed shacks, and the entire street was decorated with signs, all with a distinctly Middle Eastern vibe," said Wang Peng, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Shitanjing Subdistrict.

"Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" follows a Chinese man working as a chef at a Chinese restaurant in the Middle East in the 2000s when war breaks out. The film has garnered widespread acclaim through solid word of mouth and robust box office performance.

Since the movie's release on Aug 11, the number of daily tourist visits to Shitanjing reached 8,000, which is 16 times the figure before the film came out. To date, Shitanjing has received a total of 160,000 tourist visits this year.

Chinese anti-war film turns film shooting base into popular travel destination

International media on Saturday and Sunday visited the core disaster area of mudslide-hit Gyirong Port on the China-Nepal border in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.

The reporters from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Brazil among other countries and regions visited the area and learned about the disaster situation, ongoing rescue operations, and progress in recovery and reconstruction.

"China has this particular the capacity to address this kind of crisis. You have thousands of workers trained for this and you have machines made for this kind of efforts. And of course, our heart goes to them for the kind of work they are putting," said KJM Varma Mokanda, a reporter from Press Trust of India.

The mudslide, triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse in Nepal on Aug 26, had left 43 people dead and 519 others missing at the border port as of 18:00 Saturday, the emergency response and rescue headquarters told a press conference on Sunday.

As of 18:00 Saturday, more than 2,500 people and over 500 vehicles had been deployed for the rescue, and more than 1,000 flights of drones had air-dropped 5.43 tons of supplies, officials said at the press conference.

International media visit mudslide-hit Gyirong Port