On A Disputed South China Sea Island, Beijing Unveils A High-Tech Cinema
The new movie theater has received widespread attention in Beijing's
state-run media - with Xinhua describing it as "China's southernmost cinema."
The movie screened on Saturday was titled "The Eternity of Jiao Yulu," Xinhua reported. It is a documentary about the life of a Chinese Communist Party politician who is said to have worked hard and honestly before his death in the 1960s and is now held up as a hero in state-sanctioned history, though critics say the reality of Jiao's life is not clear.
Over 200 Chinese moviegoers attended a screening on Yongxing Island in the South China Sea on Saturday, according to Xinhua.
The cinema is operated by Hainan Film Company and comes with up-to-date technology, the news agency reported, including both 4K resolution and a 3-D perforated screen. The new movie theater has received widespread attention in Beijing's state-run media - with Xinhua describing it as "China's southernmost cinema."
But its opening also plays a more controversial role in one of Asia's most fraught territorial disputes.
Yongxing Island, known internationally as Woody Island, is the largest of the Paracel Islands. These islands are in a part of the South China Sea claimed simultaneously by China, Vietnam and Taiwan - part of a broader set of geopolitical disputes in the sea that also involve many Southeast Asian nations. China has long claimed much of the landmass in this sea, pointing toward a historical claim known as the "9-dash line."
Disputes over the geographically useful region have long been a recurring theme of diplomacy. Last year, an international court in The Hague rejected most of China's claims in the region. The U.S. has challenged China's sovereignty in the area and has sailed Navy destroyers through the contested areas as recently as early July.
The cinema is operated by Hainan Film Company and comes with up-to-date technology, the news agency reported, including both 4K resolution and a 3-D perforated screen. The new movie theater has received widespread attention in Beijing's state-run media - with Xinhua describing it as "China's southernmost cinema."
But its opening also plays a more controversial role in one of Asia's most fraught territorial disputes.
Yongxing Island, known internationally as Woody Island, is the largest of the Paracel Islands. These islands are in a part of the South China Sea claimed simultaneously by China, Vietnam and Taiwan - part of a broader set of geopolitical disputes in the sea that also involve many Southeast Asian nations. China has long claimed much of the landmass in this sea, pointing toward a historical claim known as the "9-dash line."
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