If you are going to the premiere screening of Zhang Yimou's $280-million Hero tomorrow night be sure to strap on your glitziest watch.
If Saturday's Beijing premiere is anything to go by, guests will have to submit to an anti-piracy frisking and also hand over their cameras, mobile phones and watches.
This delighted the Hong Kong faction who had been invited to the special viewing in the Hall of the People. 'Suddenly all the Hong Kong people were waving around these fantastically expensive timepieces. It took them forever to hand them over,' a source said.
And with guests like Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen, Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi, it is no surprise that security made quite a haul. It was a bigger surprise that everyone got their possessions back afterwards.
Chris Doyle, the award-winning cinematographer, was overheard sighing: 'I thought this was how they were going to fund the film.'