Two acclaimed Chinese movies featuring in Tibetan life met with the Thai audience at a popular cinema in downtown Bangkok on Saturday, unveiling a movie exhibition of "China Tibet Culture Week" held in Thailand.

"Red River Valley" was the first movie screened at the cinema of Grand EGV Siam Discovery, which has been decorated by a number of large posters of exotic-dressed actors and snow-capped mountains.

Shot several years ago in China's Tibet, the movie conveys the universal message of the importance of harmonious inter-ethnic relations, while telling the story of how people from Han and Tibetan nationalities lived harmoniously and fought together against the British invasion at the beginning of the 20th century.

The second movie on show is "Song of Tibet". Directed by one of China's most established director Xie Fei, the movie presented people with Tibet's vicissitudes through telling a young Tibetan woman's love stories with three Tibetans. The movie was known for its whole-Tibetan cast and dialogues in the Tibetan Language.

"Wish the two movies give the Thai people a look of Tibet's landscape, culture and history," said Dong Yunhu, deputy head of the "China Tibet Culture Week" delegation.

Giving free tickets to the public, the two movies attracted a number of Thais interested to know more of Tibet. All 320 tickets for the movies' premier were given out before the show started.

"I really want to know something about Tibet, but there's hardly any access," said Sirirat, a Thai woman who has studied Chinese for four years in Bangkok.

"Many of my friends and classmates have come to watch the two movies. China's Tibet is such a mysterious place," she said in soft Chinese.

The two movies will have respectively three shows in Bangkok on Dec. 6-8.

The exhibition was part of the ongoing "China Tibet Culture Week", which is held on Dec. 5-18 in Thailand.

The cultural exchange event is designed to give the Thai people a panoramic view on the history and unique custom of Tibet by performing Tibetan songs and dances, and pictures, paintings, and movies.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2003)