The 300 million yuan, magic epic saga "The Promise" is expected to finish its painstaking six-month shoot on September 14.

The content of Chen Kaige's film has been a closely guarded secret, but Chen says he wants to live up to the standard set for Chinese blockbuster films set by director Zhang Yimou's 'Hero' and 'House of Flying Daggers'.

Audiences will have to wait some time before they can see "The Promise".

It won't hit China's screens until 2006 due because of its long production time.

The movie stars 23-year-old Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung(Zhang Bozhi), actor Nicholas Tse Ting(Xie Tingfen and Korean actor Jang Dong Gun( Zhang Dongjian).

Some critics are already calling "The Promise" China's answer to the epic "Lord of Ring" trilogy .  

(Agencies)

saga: a narrative telling the adventures of a hero or a family; originally (12th to 14th centuries) a story of the families that settled Iceland and their descendants but now any prose narrative that resembles such an account（傳奇，英雄故事）

trilogy: a series of three dramas which, although each of them is in one sense complete, have a close mutual relation, and form one historical and poetical picture（三部劇，三部曲）