Diplomatic heroes are box-office kings
China DailyWang's character, a young diplomat, leads more than 100 stranded compatriots across a desert. Patriotic rescue thriller takes top spot in China, dominating the domestic movie market during the recent National Day holiday, Xu Fan reports. On a sultry summer night in late July 2018, scriptwriter Qin Haiyan walked into her studio in eastern Beijing, which shares a floor with the company of renowned director Lu Yang. When the conversation turned to how he took risks to ensure the large-scale evacuation of Chinese nationals stranded in a conflict area, director Lu, who was passing by, was also hooked, and joined Qin to listen to the diplomat's tale. Recently, Home Coming, a 137-minute film shaped from the original interview, has soared to the top of China's box office, grossing more than 1.2 billion yuan since its opening on Sept 30.