Moviemakers help to set the picture straight

The film industry is growing stronger and focusing more on China's rise on the world stage, as Xu Fan reports.

When Jia Zhangke made his directorial debut with The Pickpocket in 1997, annual box-office takings in China were about 1 billion yuan ($158 million). By last year, the figure had rocketed to nearly 56 billion yuan.

When interviewed at the Great Hall of the People on Sunday on the sidelines of the National People's Congress, Jia, an NPC deputy, said he was excited about the transformation of the movie industry in China, which boasts the largest number of film screens in the world.