At the beginning of the 20th century, China is in a state of crisis. The country is split into warring factions, the citizens are starving, and recent political reforms have made matters worse, not better. The ruling Qing Dynasty, led by a seven-year-old emperor and his ruthless mother, Empress Dowager Longyu (Joan Chen), is completely out of touch after 250 years of unquestioned power. With ordinary citizens beginning to revolt openly, the Qing Dynasty has created a powerful, modern army (the “New Army”) to quash any rebellion. But weapons are expensive, and desperate for cash, the Qing leaders are trading anything they can get their hands on with foreign countries and selling China.
Here's the trailer for the movie:
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Although the trailer suggests that it might be a very expensive movie, reportedly the movie only costs about $30,000,000 to make. A pretty modest budget compared to Hollywood's big projects.
The historical drama is directed by Jackie Chan with Li Zhang, and starred by Jackie Chan, Bingbing Li, Winston Chao, Joan Chen, Jaycee Chan.
1911 is scheduled for release 12 October 2011.
