Construction of the set of an imperial palace is almost done at Hengdian World Studios.

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Set of an imperial post has been built at a place called "Heavenly Pit" near China's southeastern city of Chongqing. Filming of The City of Golden Armor, Zhang Yimou's third martial-art epic is currently underway inside Beijing Film Studios.

Click here for the video clip.

The second press conference was held for Jay Chou this morning at Beijing Film Studios. Other attendants include director Zhang Yimou, cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding, costume designer Yee Chung-Man and sound recordist Tao Jing.

Clips: A B C

Left: director Zhang Yimou (L), Jay Chou (M) and Yee Chung-Man.

More snapshots.

(Sina.com)

These are taken at Hengdian World Studios. The photo on the left shows the a round shape structure being built; and the photo on the right shows some movable set piece. Shooting at Beijing Film Studios will end this month.

(Sina.com)

Shooting of Zhang Yimou's The City of Golden Armor continues at the biggest soundstage of Beijing Film Studios. Several photographers hid inside an nearby apartment building to take pictures of anyone showing up and occasionally they sneaked into the soundstage to take quick shots.

A press conference was held this morning at Beijing Film Academy.

From the press conference:

Video (click the numbers below the screen to select.)

Photos

This is a design sketch for a courtesan, played by Li Man, the young actress making her big screen d�but in the Zhang Yimou's film.

This short video was taken at Hengdian World Studios, where full-scale replicas of all major buildings of Beijing's Forbidden City are faithfully built. Workers are building additional structures designed specifically for the movie, including a wall and a round-shape structure. The terrace and the round-shape structure will be covered with gold color chrysanthemum flowers for shooting a fight scene.

Two more character design sketches have been released during the weekend.

Left: the younger prince (Qin Junjie)

The Beijing News (a newspaper) has posted three more character design sketches.

Design sketches

Building parts: A B C

		(Left) Chow Yun-Fat as the emperor.
		(Mid) Gong Li as the empress.
		(Top) The imperial army.
		(Beijing New Picture Film Co.)

Zhang Yimou is a master of colors and the color he has chosen for the film is gold. In fact, virtually everything in the movie is in gold color - costumes, palaces, vehicles, weapons, armors and even armors for horses. It is an golden empire about to collapse.

(L to R): Director Zhang Yimou, Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Chen Jin, Liu Ye, Qin Junjie, Li Man and Ni Dahong (?).	Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li.
(CETV)

A small ceremony was held on the set of The City of Golden Armor, marking the beginning of the principal production. All major cast members, excluding Jay Chou, attended the ceremony.

Clip here for a TV report.

(Sina.com)

A reporter infiltrated into the biggest soundstage of Beijing Film Studios and took these photos, which showed the interior of an imperial palace.

(Beijing New Picture Film Co.)

Beijing New Picture Film Co. has revealed the identity of the last major cast member of Zhang Yimou's The City of Golden Armor, 17 year old Li Man, and her photo has appeared on Sina.com. She will play character who falls in love with the older prince. Li is currently a student at Beijing Drama Academy, the same school both Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi attended. Zhang Yimou is known for casting young women with little acting experience and making them household names instantly.

Zhang Yimou	Chow Yun-Fat	Gong Li
(Block 2 Pictures / Shanghai Film Group Corp.,?)

In a letter sent to the Chinese media today, Beijing New Picture Film Co. has revealed that shooting of this film will begin tomorrow at Beijing Film Studios. The first scene will be made at a palace interior built inside a soundstage. Both Chow Yun-Fat, playing the emperor, and Gong Li, playing the empress, will be in the scene. Chow Yun-Fat arrived in Beijing yesterday with a very nicely trimmed beard. Click here for a picture of Chow Yun-Fat at Beijing Capital Airport yesterday (Taken by Oriental Morning Post). According to IMDB, this film's English title is The City of Golden Armor and its Chinese title remains as Man Cheng Jin Dai Huang Jin Jia (To Fill the City with Golden Armors). If I were to pick an English title for it, I would simply called it "Golden". Any thought?

According to several Chinese newspapers, there are about 3000 workers are now working on the preparation of the movie at Hengdian World Studios. Some big scenes will be shot at the sector which contains full-scale replicas of all major buildings of Beijing's Forbidden City. Certain level of modifications on these building are needed because the Forbidden City, which was the imperial palace compound during the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, was built in the 14th Century and the story of the movie occurred during the Tang Dynasty (7th - 9th Century). The architectural styles of these two periods are different. Three walls decorated with large numbers of frescoes are in construction and at the center of the courtyard in front of the replicated Hall of Supreme Harmony, a large size and round shape stage is being built. About 3 million gold color  chrysanthemum flowers and about 1.1fake chrysanthemum flowers have been ordered to fill the replicated Forbidden City. The production team has promised to properly dispose these flowers after the shooting is done. They will be put for other uses, which will cause no harm to the environment. About 20,000 suits of armors have been manufactured for the imperial soldiers and horses. The art department built four combat vehicles, each of which is 6 meters long and 2 meters wide. Number of such vehicles will be increased to 40 through CG effect. In this historical epic, Chow Yun-Fat will play the Emperor, Gong Li will play the Empress, Liu Ye will play the older prince Yuanxiang, Jay Chow will play the younger prince Yuanchao and an unidentified young actress will play Jiang E. Shooting will begin next Monday or Tuesday inside a soundstage at Beijing Film Studios.

According to Shanghai Youth Daily, Taiwan-born singer Jay Chou has been cast to play a supporting role in Zhang Yimou's upcoming period epic Golden Armors (Fill the City with Golden Armors). Reportedly, he will play the son of the emperor (Chow Yun-Fat) and the empress (Gong Li). Jay Chou just had his acting d�but last year in the silver screen version of Japanese comic series Initial D.