The production team of director Chen Kaige's kung fu epic movie The Promise was fined 90,000 yuan (US$11,250) for ecological damage in a pristine area of Yunnan Province, the Ministry of Construction said yesterday.

 

Meanwhile, an unidentified deputy governor of Shangri-La County, where the movie was shot at the Bigu Lake, has been sacked for responsibility in the case, the ministry said. The production crew built a 2-million-yuan house, a 100-meter-long gravel road, and a 20-meter-long road covered with wood and destroyed rare plants around the lake. The ecological damage to the lake, about 16 square kilometers, was not serious, it said.

 

(Shanghai Daily August 14, 2006)