Hometown tales tell story of poverty relief in China

With a stunning 10-day box-office haul surpassing 2 billion yuan ($297.5 million), the anthology blockbuster My People, My Homeland has propelled the recovery of Chinese film industry－and that's despite China's theaters still being limited to a maximum 75 percent seating capacity.

Gathering seven directors to helm five stories, the celebrity-studded film adopts a comedic tone to illustrate China's efforts to get rid of poverty.

Opening on the first day of China's National Day holiday, the film has beaten other new releases－such as the animated hit Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification and Jackie Chan's action movie Vanguard－to maintain its position atop the country's box-office charts since Oct 3.

Producer Zhang Miao from Beijing Culture, known for its blockbusters Wolf Warrior 2, Dying to Survive and The Wandering Earth, recalls his studio was contacted by the China Film Administration－the country's top sector regulator－to ask them to produce the project, which had Ning Hao on board as chief director.