Warriors of Heaven and Earth
2003 film directed by He Ping
Warriors of Heaven and Earth (Chinese: 天地英雄) is a 2003 Chinese action adventure film directed by He Ping. The film's notable cinematography captures a wide range of landscapes across Xinjiang. It was China's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, though it did not get nominated.
Synopsis
The film is set in western China around 700 AD at the height of the Tang Empire when trade and cultural exchanges are taking place via the Silk Road between the Chinese and their counterparts in the west. Lieutenant Li, a former Tang army officer, has become a fugitive after defying orders to kill unarmed Göktürk prisoners-of-war, most of whom are the elderly, women and children. Years later, he joins a caravan carrying a Buddhist relic and protects them from raiders led by Master An, who has been hired by the Göktürk ruler to seize the relic.
Lai Xi, a Japanese emissary sent to the Tang Empire, has received a promise from the emperor to allow him to return to Japan if he helps to hunt down and kill the fugitive Li. Lai tracks down Li and, in a twist of fate, decides to help Li escort the caravan carrying the relic to the Tang capital, Chang'an. Both men agree to settle their differences in a duel in Chang'an once they have completed the mission.
Cast
Soundtrack
The original score was composed by Indian composer A. R. Rahman.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Warriors of Heaven and Earth” as 2003 film directed by He Ping. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3174281. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2003.
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This entry incorporates text from “Warriors of Heaven and Earth” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.