] Date: June 9 China and Britain refight Opium War on film By Mure Dickie BEIJING (Reuter) China and Britain refought their 19th century Opium War on celluloid Monday as Beijing premiered a statebacked movie aimed at educating a new generation in British villany and Chinese humiliation. In a ceremony more akin to a Communist Party conference than a first night in Hollywood, officials and selected school children joined to watch Britain triumph over a decaying Qing dynasty (16441911) and steal sovereignty over Hong Kong. Officials hailed the ``The Opium War'' as a major event in China's film history and a contribution to national efforts to mark the return of Hong Kong to Beijing rule after 156 years of colonial control from London. ``Our film workers can make 'The Opium War' a special gift for the motherland and people, to ensure we and our descendants through film forever remember the humiliation the nation once suffered,'' said the film's director, Xie Jin, in a speech. Xie has compared the 184042 Opium War, which was triggered by Beijing's attempts to stop Western imports of the narcotic, to Germany's massacre of the Jews during World War II and China's own ultraleftist 196676 Cultural Revolution. While the director has said his movie is not propaganda, the presence at the premier of Li Tieying, a member of the elite Politburo, and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen was proof of approval from China's cultural commissars. Soldiers selected to attend the showing sat to attention as British warships shelled Qing forts weakened by centuries of isolationism although some of the filmwatching troops slumped in their seats as the twoandahalfhour epic wore on. Western wickedness was given a bigscreen, fullcostume outing in the movie, whose $12 million budget gave it cinematic options far beyond most underfunded Chinese films. Sexual encounters between British opium traders and officers and the winsome Chinese heroine played by actress Gao Yuan were played for their imperialist overtones, but the film also did not gloss over the capricious cruelty of the Qing dynasty. Nor were the British painted as uniformly malicious, pointed out 14yearold schoolboy Wang Jin after the performance. ``Before the war they all voted, and there were also votes against,'' said Wang, who attended along with his 'Opium War' Tshirtclad classmates from a Beijing school. The hero of the hour was Qing official Lin Zexu, who sparked the war by destroying 3.0 million lbs. of Westernowned opium and flushing it into the sea in 1839. While Lin is now revered for his battle against the drug trade and his resistence to Western power, an appalled Qing emperor rewarded his efforts with internal exile. Despite Lin's trials, the film showed him as having clear foresight of the cost of appeasement and the need to abandon China's traditional disinterest in barbarians from abroad. ``(The Westeners') clothing may look bad, but it does make movement easier,'' a robewearing Lin sighs as he heads into exile, concluding it was unwise to belittle such nations. While the premiere audience was at pains to pour praise on ``The Opium War,'' not all Chinese viewers were impressed. ``Technically, it's very bad,'' said one former filmmaker, who attended an earlier test screening. Unconcerned by such criticism, film mandarins have slated the film for nationwide release ahead of the midnight June 30 Hong Kong handover. Movie theaters are not the only place patriotic Chinese will be able to refight the war the official ``Opium War'' computer game is scheduled to hit the stores this month.