Height of romance on show at mountaintop cinema

NANCHANG－Walking through a luxuriant park and down the stone steps, Yang Lin came as usual to one of China's most special cinemas－one that has shown the same film for decades.

Perched on the top of Lushan Mountain, East China's Jiangxi province, the cinema has screened Romance on Lushan Mountain thousands of times since it was released in 1980. All this time, Yang has been the principal projectionist, a job that took him from "Little Yang "with a childish face to "Old Yang "with slight wrinkles and gray hair.

"I have only done one thing for most of my life－projecting Romance on Lushan Mountain. Thanks to this film, I found true love and built a family," says Yang.

The film has long been regarded as a milestone in entertainment, being the first movie screened in China that included a kissing scene after the introduction of the reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s. With its beautiful love story set against the picturesque landscape of Lushan, the movie soon became a hit across the country.

Yang joined the cinema around 41 years ago, and he will retire from the job at the end of this year. He will miss running the projector, but he has plenty to be thankful for.

For one thing, the cinema introduced him to his wife, Wu Hui. This girl with braids and a hearty laugh was assigned to work at the movie theater, and Yang was later sent to join her.

"At that time, falling in love was nothing more than writing letters and making phone calls, but Romance on Lushan Mountain turned out to be a textbook on love for our generation," Yang says.

With the film showing on the screen every day, Yang and Wu felt there was a good vibe between them. Immersed in the film's romantic atmosphere, the couple grew closer and love soon blossomed.

Over the years, Yang and Wu have measured their most important moments according to the number of screenings. They met each other's parents at the 2,190th screening of the film. By the 2,920th screening, they had entered into marriage, and by the 3,902nd screening, their first baby had been born.

Romance on Lushan Mountain is still showing in the little cinema on Lushan Mountain. It has already set a Guinness world record for the longest first run of a film at one cinema.

According to the Lushan Scenic Area Management Bureau, around 250 out of every 10,000 visitors to the mountain will watch the film. By August, the cinema had attracted more than 3.9 million viewers.

From Aug 16 to 22, the area hosted the third Lushan International Love Film Week, an event inspired by the 1980 film. Wu and Yang were invited to attend the festival's first edition, and since then they have posed for photos with many movie-loving tourists.

But fame has done little to change the couple's routine. Despite retiring 11 years ago, Wu still goes to the cinema every night, accompanying her husband, continuing the ritual that brought them together.

"Although we will stop projecting the movie very soon, our own romance on Lushan Mountain will never end," Yang says.

Xinhua