Nanjing Massacre going to big screen

BEIJING, March 29 (UPI) -- The story of the killing of 300,000 Chinese by Japanese soldiers in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre is being filmed in time for the episode's 70th anniversary.

Jiangsu Cultural Industry Group is working with American entertainment company Viridian and British investors to bring the movie based on the late Iris Chang's book "The Rape of Nanking -- The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II" to theaters by year's end, Xinhua news agency said Thursday.

"We hope we can make the film a classic on a massacre in the Second World War, just like ... 'Schindler's List'," said Gerald Green, the American producer of the movie.

Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning "Shindler's List" depicted Nazi atrocities against Jews during WWII.

Li Xiangmin, chairman of Jiangsu Cultural Industry Group, said the $28.5 million movie will be completed by Sept. 1 and debut in China before the massacre's 70th anniversary in December. A worldwide release is planned for spring 2008, he said.

Filmmakers hope to lure Chinese star Ziyi Zhang and Malaysia's Michelle Yeoh to the project.

While the Japanese government has officially recognized that atrocities occurred, some of the country's right-wingers contend no massacre occurred and only military personnel died.