nd locals alike to do the same, promoting the local attractions people might recognize from films while using the  Grand Landscape  program to nudge audiences toward expanding their travel horizons. The classic 1960s musical Third Sister Liu was a sensation on release thanks to the stunning vistas of southern China's Guangxi region, while Tsui Hark's 2014 action hit The Taking of Tiger Mountain took to the snow-capped peaks of northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

 Basically, we were thinking of a way to present a brief history of Chinese cinema from a geography perspective, showcasing both the internal richness of Chinese cinema, cultural diversity and the intergenerational legacy of Chinese filmmakers,  explains Fan. The team chose films of high artistic value that also represent the country's distinct regions and cultures, Fan says -  from the mountains of Tibet to the island of Hainan,  from the Yellow River in the north to the Yangtze in the south.  Many of them are classics that are known to a generation. 

In recent months, China's state-run media has given heavy coverage to the film tourism trend, closely following the fortunes of Dear You and its impact on eastern Guangdong province, as well as charting the knock-on effect the world's second-largest film market has on the broader local economy.

A recently released report from the China Film Administration claimed that each yuan collected at the domestic box office generated 15.77 yuan for  related industries  across the country, with tourism a main beneficiary.

Fan concedes that 15 films are too few to capture the country's full diversity. But, the programmer adds, the section is  our little attempt to show the beauty and touching stories of the land by revisiting Chinese classics.