More nihao from Hollywood

Actor Chen Kun starring as Zhong Kui in Chinese 3-D adventure Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, which got technical support from Jackson's studio. Photo provided to China Daily

After Robert Downey Jr showed off his Chinese kung fu skills, in the historic Imperial Ancestral Temple, during his Beijing tour to promote Iron Man 3 in 2013, the superhero film becomes the highest grossing Hollywood movie of that year in China.

Next came dozens of top Hollywood stars, such as John Depp to promote Transcendence, Scarlett Johansson to promote Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Andrew Garfield for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

While Hollywood speeds up to increase its presence in the world's second-largest movie market, China also works on widening its international connections.

The annual quota of foreign movies that can be introduced into the country is still limited to 34, which pushes Chinese moviemakers to find more "Hollywood elements" to attract ticket buyers.

An upcoming 3-D fantasy adventure, Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, was recently a promotional highlight of the Wellington-based Weta Workshop. The 200-million production, jointly produced by China, Australia and the United States, uses Peter Jackson's special-effects studio to work on characters and setting designs.

Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Pau, the thriller's producer, reveals that the movie uses intelligent sensors attached to the body to track the wearer's motion, a first for Chinese productions.