Reel alliance

China and the UK plan a series of initiatives to enhance cultural ties through their film industries. Zhang Chunyan reports in London.

Avid movie buffs will be familiar with the classic 1981 film Chariots of Fire that chronicles the life and times of legendary British sprinters Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams.

Though Liddell won a gold medal for 400m at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, very little is known about his later life as a missionary in China. An upcoming Chinese-UK co-production promises to shed more light on the flying Scot and his work in the Middle Kingdom.