Yin Li's Zhang Side dominated the 15th Golden Rooster and Full Blossom Awards. The biopic about a celebrated Chinese soldier took the best picture, best director and best actor awards.

For the first time the awards shortlists were decided by moviegoers across the country. According to China Film Association, some 1.16 million votes were sent by mobile phone text.

Stephen Chow's 2005 film Kung Fu Hustle and Zhou Youchao's Sheng Si Niu Yu Ru(Between Life And Death) shared the second prize for outstanding feature film.

Rene Liu was named best actress for her part in Feng Xiaogang's A World Without Thieves - the first Taiwanese actor to win the award.

Wu Jun won the best actor honour for Zhang Side.

The best supporting actor awards went toYuan Qiu for Kung Fu Hustle and Nicolas Tse for NewPolice Story.Sun Li was best new actor for Ronny Yu's Fearless.

China's top two film awards - the Golden Rooster Awards (selected by an appointed jury) and the Full Blossom Awards (voted on by the public) - are now held in alternate years as part of the Golden Rooster and Full Blossom Film Festival which takes place every year. This year is the year of the Full Blossom Awards.

The four-day film festival began onWednesday in China's Hangzhou City, showcasing 65 Chinese language films from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

However, most of the nominated stars andfilmmakers, such as Stephen Chow, Feng Xiaogang and Zhang Yimou were absentfrom the event.