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Stars gather in Taiwan for Chinese ‘Oscars’

Taoyuan — Stars from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan gathered on Saturday for this year’s Golden Horse Film Awards, the ‘Oscars’ of Chinese-language cinema.

Chinese actress Xu Fan, Taiwan’s starlet Lin Chi-ling and heartthrob Ethan Juan were among the performers walking down the red carpet ahead of the gala ceremony in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan.

Hong Kong director Teddy Chen of ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’ joined the film’s two leading men, Chinese veteran Wang Xueqi and Nicholas Tse of Hong Kong, at the ceremony.

Chen’s martial arts flick, set in the waning days of the Qing dynasty in the early 20^th century, is a top contender with nine nominations, including best picture, best director, and best leading actor for Wang.

‘I am honoured to be nominated again,’ said Wang, last year’s winner for best supporting actor, on the red carpet.

His rivals for the top acting honour are fellow Chinese Ni Dahong (‘Judge’) and Qin Hao (‘Spring Fever’) as well as Juan, one of Taiwan’s most popular young actors acclaimed for his role in the gangster film ‘Monga’.

From Hong Kong, Golden Horse-winning actors Tony Leung Ka-fai, Nick Cheung and kung fu master Sammo Hung, who has two nods for best action choreography, also lent their star power to the proceedings.

The cream of Taiwanese cinema was represented by director Chang Tso-chi, whose family drama ‘When Love Comes’ is vying in 14 categories covering best picture, best director, and the outstanding Taiwanese film of the year.

Chang is favoured by critics to win best director over Chen (‘Bodyguards and Assassins’), Chung Mong-hong (‘Fourth Portrait’) and Liu Jie (‘Judge’).

Also up for the best picture award are Chinese legal drama ‘Judge’ and two Taiwanese independent films — ‘Fourth Portrait’ and ‘Seven Days in Heaven’.

China’s Xu Fan (‘Aftershock’), Tang Wei (‘Crossing Hennessy’) and Lu Liping (‘City Monkey’) will battle Taiwan’s Sylvia Chang (‘Buddha Mountain’) for best leading actress.

Critics believe Xu has an upper hand for her intense and touching performance in the film about a devastating earthquake in 1976, although Tang, a Golden Horse best new performer winner in 2007, is still a threat.

Tang won the award for playing a spy who betrayed her country in Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s erotic thriller ‘Lust, Caution’ but the same role reportedly angered Chinese authorities and caused her to be blacklisted for two years.

More than 30 films were nominated in the 47^th edition of the Golden Horse Awards, which are styled after the US Academy Awards but are decided by a jury along the lines of the Cannes film festival.