The Hundred Flower Film Awards, the first batch of film awards in New China, was established in 1961 and supported by the late Chinese premier Zhou Enlai.

Since then they have been organized annually by the "Popular Cinema" magazine. Every year, Chinese readers and movie fans vote for their favorite Chinese films with results of the ballot published in the magazine.

Speaking of the awards' early years, veteran film industry analyst Li Baojiang, of China Film Market magazine, said: "Winning the awards was a great honor for Chinese film artists at that time."

Winners of the First Hundred Flower Film Awards were announced on May 22-23, 1962, in the Auditorium of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in downtown Beijing. Zhou Enlai and then vice-premier Chen Yi attended the awards presentation ceremony.

Guo Moruo, one of the most respected figures in Chinese literature, presented the Best Actress Award to Zhu Xijuan for her excellent performance in the role of Wu Qionghua in the film "Red Detachment of Women" and handed her a scroll of Chinese calligraphy he had personally written as a gift.

In 1963, the second Hundred Flower Awards were again held in Beijing and attended by Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi, and Guo Moruo, who presented Best Actress Award to Zhang Ruifang for her role in the film "The Story of Li Shuangshuang."

The popular film awards were interrupted between 1964 and 1979 due to political turmoil in China but were reinstated in 1980.

It is a "people's choice" award, said Luo Yijun, a veteran film critic.

In the early 1980s, the magazine's monthly circulation reached a record high of 9.6 million copies with a reported two million ballots cast each year by readers across the nation.

(China Daily March 29, 2005)