Two Chinese actors win awards at Taiwan fest

TAIPEI - Two Chinese actors Saturday won awards at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Festival, dubbed the Oscars for Chinese-language films.

Yu Shaoqun, who portrayed opera singer Mei Lanfang in “Forever Enthralled (Mei Lanfang)”, won the Best New Actor award in the 46th edition of the festival, held at the Taipei County Government Auditorium outside Taipei.

Wang Xueqi, who played Mei Lanfang’s rival opera singer in the film, took the Best Supporting Actor award.

This is the first time purely Chinese films freely competed in the Golden Horse Festival. In recent years, only Chinese films which were partially invested in by Taiwan producers were allowed at the festival.

About half of the films nominated for the top 21 top awards were from China, led by “Message (Feng Sheng)” - a film about China’s war against Japan that won five nominations.

As a sign of improved cross-strait ties, China’s Central Television of China (CCTV) broadcast the awards ceremony live.