The China Cinema with its elegant and original facade still works in Shinan. [Photo/WeChat account: qdweishinan]

After almost a hundred years of lights, camera and action, the old China Cinema is still standing on Zhongshan Road in the Shinan district of Qingdao city -- in East China's Shandong province -- and the wonder of it all is that it is still playing its original role.

The old building with the original name of the Shandong Cinema has drifted through the traces of time. On Dec 15, 1931, the opening ceremony was held in Qingdao, at the same time China's first sound film -- Sing-song Girl Red Peony -- made its debut. At the opening ceremony, the owners especially invited Hu Die (1908-89), one of China's top film stars in the 1920s and '30s, to cut the ribbon.

A week after the liberation of Qingdao on June 2, 1949, the cinema resumed business as usual and offered shows to the locals.

On Sept 18, 1949, the theater was renamed "China Film Theatre" when it showed revolutionary dramas and films. It was later renamed "New China Cinema". In 1981, it was renamed simply the "China Cinema".