The reel Mao

Young actor Liu Ye will play a 20-something Chairman Mao Zedong in an upcoming film and says his role will break the stereotypical image of the Great Helmsman. Liu Wei reports.

Young heartthrob Liu Ye, 33, will play Chairman Mao Zedong in the upcoming movie, The Founding of a Party, a tribute to the 90th birth anniversary of the Communist Party of China. The movie, to be released on June 15, has been in the spotlight ever since its filming began in August 2010.

Directors Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin have boldly cast young idols, such as Liu, Chen Kun and Chang Chen, to play Mao, Zhou Enlai and Chiang Kai-shek.