It looks like an ordinary farmer's house circa 1940. A bed that doubles as the dinner table. The family oven that resembles a fireplace.

What sets it apart is a trap door that leads to an underground tunnel. The tunnel is not long, and a right turn gets you outdoors, face to face with a giant Chinese scholar tree, from which a large bell is dangling. This is the village square.

One may still find such a scene in rural northern China, but in this case the whole structure is located in a corner of a brand-new museum in Beijing-based August First Film Studio. It is a replica of part of the set of the legendary film "Tunnel Warfare" (Di Dao Zhan).

For those with recollections of the pre-reform era, this war film is deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness. First released in 1964, it was one of a handful of features that still played during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). By the end of 2005, this blockbuster about Chinese farmers fighting Japanese invaders had amassed two impressive records: It was the most watched film in the whole world, with 1.8 billion viewing times (most viewers watched it multiple times) and 8,420 prints in both 35mm and 16mm formats distributed, making it the most circulated black-and-white film in the world, claims the museum archive.

But looking at the rebuilt set, one gets a sense of deja?vu and contrast. You have to walk up a giant staircase in the middle of the museum, all 53 red-glowing steps that signify 53 glorious years of the studio, before you can enter the dirt house and climb down into the tunnel.

The museum, opened last year, is housed in a cavernous building that used to be Soundstage One. The August First Film Studio, founded in 1952 and with a history that goes back to the Yan'an years, has produced 2,100 films, including features, documentaries, military educational shorts, and garnered many of the nation's prestigious awards. But by the 1990s, like all of China's film industry, it was in a doldrums and its five soundstages were rarely fully occupied.

Muscle and might

August First Film Studio is a unit of the Chinese military, the date referring to the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). "As such, its strength lies in making military-themed movies,?said Zhao Xianghong, director of the office in charge of building the museum.

The studio can assemble casts of hundreds of thousands, if necessary, to faithfully represent battle scenes of biblical proportions. In the 1980s-1990s, it produced a three-part film that details the whole Liberation War (1946-49). It is 25 hours and 10 minutes long and has a cast of 3.54 million.

To serve the military, the studio sends prints of its movies to barracks nationwide, where soldiers have at least one free movie show every week. As a demographic group, China's military service personnel are the most frequent movie goers in the country.

"Our studio grew up during war time. Our movies are mostly about wars. But we use war films to express our yearning for peace,?said Ming Zhenjiang, president of the studio.

The studio's output stands at two to three features a year now, a far cry from its heyday. "But in 2006 we have a slate of five features in the pipeline. Most importantly, our quality has gone up a great deal. Our films have the highest ratio of award winners. We have won all three of China's biggest awards every year in the past few years,?Ming said proudly.

With television dominating family entertainment, the television arm of August First has produced a slew of series to cater to the changing demographics. Many of its military-themed shows, such as "Eighth Route Army?and "Happiness Is Like a Flower,?have been quite popular.

A new direction

Chinese movies used to fall into categories that seemed to correspond to government departments: agriculture, education or the military, for example. But changes in the film market and shifts in public taste have made it obsolete. "Nowadays we have genres, and the dominant genre for our studio is the military-themed action movie,?clarified Ming.

The milestone in the seismic shift is a movie called "Charging Out of Amazon??a story about Chinese soldiers participating in international joint training and action, which has more than a few tinges of "G.I. Jane.?

The movie opened the Chinese film festival at Kennedy Centre last year and many Americans were surprised to see something like this, according to Ming. "It's fast, packed with action, and features an international cast. It's a sign that our movies are hitching on the globalization bandwagon.?

"Taihang Mountain?is a 50-million-yuan (US$6.2 million) production that won last year's Golden Rooster, the Chinese equivalent of the Oscar. It is about the first three years of Chinese people's fight against Japanese aggression and has a spectacular battle scene about the historic Pingxingguan Battle.

As popular movies go, this one was pirated and sold on street corners. One Hunan television station even went so far as to show it without obtaining broadcast rights first. "We had to resort to a lawsuit, and the court ordered it to compensate us for 300,000 yuan (US$36,990),?revealed Ming. "I've also heard that our movies are aired by small ethnic television channels in the US or sold as discs without our authorization. Piracy happens everywhere as long as the movies are crowd pleasers, and it harms all filmmakers.

"This year is the 70th anniversary of the Long March. We'll have one big-budget release. But unlike our previous Long March pictures, this one will tell the story from the point of view of an ordinary soldier, very much like what "Saving Private Ryan?was to World War II,?continued Ming.

Looking out

Many people have the misunderstanding that, because it is owned and operated by the military, August Fist is not allowed to have co-productions with the outside world.

As a matter of fact, it co-produced "Fire Dragon,?starring Bridget Lin, with a Hong Kong studio, a biographical film about Norman Bethune, the Canadian doctor who sacrificed his life helping China during WWII, with a Canadian company, and "Dunhuang?with a Japanese studio. "A US producer is talking with us to do a picture on the Flying Tigers, the legendary American pilots,?divulged Ming, adding that this subject highlights the strength of August Film.

"As China's military participates more and more in UN operations, we'll have more subject matters that are suitable for international co-production,?he said.

On a purely technical level, August First has unparalleled expertise in military-related props. Its museum displays all kinds of weapons and uniforms. But it is also marching forward into a new era.

"We are the first studio in China to have bought an ARRICAM digital camera. Recently we spent 12 million yuan (US$1.48 million) on a full set of French-and-British-made processing machine. We have all the state-of-the-art facilities in-house that can enable us to produce the highest-quality technical results,?claimed Ming.

August First is also equipped with the best dubbing capability in the nation. It was responsible for producing the Chinese soundtrack for such blockbusters as "The Lord of the Ring?trilogy, "Saving Private Ryan?and "Pearl Harbour.?

"When it comes to war films, August First is undoubtedly the first choice for dubbing,?said Fa Lan, who has a website for dubbing enthusiasts.

Meanwhile, in the 1,317-square-metre soundstage-turned-museum, across the aisle from the "Tunnel Warfare?set, is a miniature set of a battleground.

At the press of a button, a battle is waged, complete with artillery fire and all sorts of gunshots, in full stereo. From a bird's-eye view it looks like something from an August Film battle scene.

(China Daily 03/20/2006 page1)