(Photo/China.com.cn)

BEIJING, Oct. 1 -- "Ying" (Shadow), the latest production of well-known Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, hit big screens across China from Sunday.

The film, starring Deng Chao, Sun Li, Zheng Kai and Hu Jun, is a martial arts film set in China during the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-280 AD) that tells the story of a "shadow" man -- a body double for royals and aristocrats.

Zhang said the story was inspired by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's 1980 film "Kagemusha" (Shadow Warrior) and his own curiosity about the lives of body doubles in Chinese history.

Zhang said the film was different from his previous productions, which were mostly bright-colored, with the main color tone of the film this time being black and white, similar to that of a traditional Chinese painting.

The film made its world premier in the Out of Competition sector at the 75th Venice Film Festival in early September, where Zhang was presented the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award.