Entrepreneurial female migrant worker takes center stage in new film

Veteran actors Deric Wan (left), Jin Qiaoqiao (center), and Bao Jianfeng (right) attend a press conference in Beijing ahead of the release of "Once Upon A Time in China", which is due out in China on March 8.[Photo Provided to China Plus]

A new film called "Once Upon A Time in China" is due to hit theaters in China on March 8th. The film's release coincides with International Women's Day.

The film tells the story of a character called Beibei, who is based on a female migrant worker named Hu Xiaoyan. Two decades ago, when she was only 24, she left her hometown in Sichuan Province for a job working at the furnace of a ceramics factory in the city of Foshan in southern China.

Through years of hard work, she rose to become a manager at the factory.

Little did she know back in her early days as a migrant worker that decades later she would take her place as a deputy in China's legislature, the National People's Congress.

Liu Shujuan (刘抒鹃) is the film director.

"Tremendous changes have taken place in China over the past 40 years. We selected two ordinary people who were faced with a lot more opportunities to develop their career so as to reflect the social changes during this time."

As well as telling Hu Xiaoyan's story, the director also gives viewers a look into the life of a local chef in Foshan as he pursues his dream of running a business.

"Once Upon A Time in China" was picked as the opener for last year's China Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival, which coincided with the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up.