The charm of China's regional dialects was highlighted recently at the country's first ever "dialect" film festival held from Jan 18 to Nov 26, dedicated to celebrating films created which use dialects other than the standard Putonghua.

The Zurong Dialect Film Festival, held in Zhanjiang, takes its inspiration from classic films such as 1987's "Red Sorghum" which uses the Shandong dialect, and 1999's "Not One Less" which uses the Hebei dialect.

The closing ceremony of the Zurong Dialect Film Festival is held in Zhanjiang's Zurong village on Nov 26. [Photo by Zheng Zi/zjphoto.yinsha.com]

Chinese dialects are classified into seven major groups based on population, such as Mandarin and Wu dialects spoken in the Yangtze River Delta, and the Jiangxi-used Gan dialects.

China's dialects in the north have been slightly better preserved than those in the south, which are slowly decreasing and in some rare cases fading away in younger generations.

Films which use Chinese dialects are being encouraged in a bid to highlight the diversity of China's cultural and historical landscape, as well as promote public awareness to ensure that the dialects do not die out.

Sun Liang (M) wins the Best Film Award for "Heiche Siji (The Driver of Illegal Cabs)". [Photo by Zheng Zi/zjphoto.yinsha.com]

The festival was sponsored by Zurong village in Zhanjiang's Leizhou Peninsula in South China's Guangdong province and organized by Maodegong, a company offering services such as real estate, advertising, and catering.

The language predominantly spoken in Zurong village is Cantonese. It is famed as the birthplace of Chen Yu, the founder of the festival and chairman of the board of Maodegong, who has been dedicated to promoting Leizhou's culture and tourism.

Chen Yu, founder of the Zurong Dialect Film Festival hopes more people protect dialects and village culture. [Photo by Zheng Zi/zjphoto.yinsha.com]

Qin Xiaoyu, a renowned poet and president of the Zurong Dialect Film Festival, said that dialects still play an important role in modern society. "Dialects can find it difficult to gain a foothold in metropolises, but they still have an important place in rural villages and towns," Qin said. "Zurong village is preserving the intangible cultural heritage, and so was chosen to host the festival."

Themed on "Loving films, loving dialects and loving hometowns", the festival attracted films from 22 provinces, competing for nine awards including best director, best actor and actress awards. The total prize pool up for grabs totaled 540,000 yuan ($77,809.7).

After a two-month evaluation period and 229 entries, the judges whittled down the nominations to 33.

Cui Yongyuan, a media icon and one of the initiators, speaks highly of the film festival. [Photo/zjphoto.yinsha.com]

Many of the films focused on village life and the preservation of folk customs. Some highlights included portrayals of southern Shanxi's funeral song, Kunming's Yunnan Opera and handmade Yukou Paper from west Fujian.

Best film went to "Heiche Siji (The Driver of Illegal Cabs)" which tells the adventurous story of an unlicensed taxi driver. The dialects used were those of the central plains and middle to lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Director of the film, Sun Liang, said, "I am so happy I can win this award. The prize money will allow me to produce more quality dialect films."

Zurong village in the Leizhou Peninsula, Zhanjiang, Guangdong [Photo by Zheng Zi/zjphoto.yinsha.com]

The closing ceremony attracted more than 600 distinguished guests from the media, film, academy industries.

"We hope to establish such a platform to give greater public exposure to little-known films," said Cui Yongyuan, one of the initiators of the festival.