Chow Yun-fat talks up relevance of Confucius ahead of biopic's opening in city tomorrow

The patriotic biopic film Confucius makes its debut in Hong Kong tomorrow and the film's promotion machine rolled through the city on Monday.

The Chinese period epic - what else does China make these days? - stars Chow Yun-fat as the scholar, with Zhou Xun (left) playing his love interest. Hu Mei is the female director behind the 150 million yuan (HK$170 million) film. The cast has been on a month-long tour flogging the movie as it goes head to head against the 3D Imax juggernaut called Avatar.

At the press conference in Kowloon Bay's Star Hall, which was also attended by its Hong Kong producer, John Sham Kin-fan, the initial line of questions was less about philosophy and more about gossip as tabloid writers wanted to ask about Zhou's rumoured break-up with a tycoon boyfriend. Not surprisingly, she refused to answer questions about her personal life, so much of the talking was left to the chatty Chow.

'Confucius actually had a very sad life,' Chow said. 'He was such a wise man but unfortunately the path of his career was very rough and he was often marginalised from the ruling elite.'

He added that he studied a lot of Confucius' works and can now spout some choice sayings at will.

'What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others,' was one he gave us. 'Confucius might be a figure who lived some 2,500 years ago, but I think people will find his thoughts still relevant today. If we can all practise his 'love all' motto, this world will be filled with more harmony.'