Huang Haiqin, a nuclear engineering junior who played Miaoyu in the film, put up 2,000 yuan of her scholarship money to help the project.

Qiu said she needed traditional Chinese paintings to create settings for the shooting of the 29th chapter, but she had no money to spare. Then she asked Huang, a good friend, to go shopping with her.

"In the shop I joked to her that I'd forgotten to bring my purse. She paid the money without hesitation," Qiu said.

The crew had also tried to save as much money as possible. "We had no money to buy a gold lock of good quality, which was a vital decoration for Xue Baochai, another heroine in the novel.

"We bought one worth 2.6 yuan and colored it with yellow nail polish, which made the fake one shine before the camera," Qiu said.

Audience reaction

Xu Hongyuan, a freshman at the university, said he respects the cast for their serious attitude toward the film.

"They are not professional actors, and the scenery isn't that nice, but I could see their sincerity in making this film through their facial and body movements when performing, which showed that they had read the original novel carefully and tried to display the personalities of these characters as much as they could," Xu said.

Sun Liguang, a professor in the School of Earth and Space Sciences, said he admired the young people's courage and quick action in turning their dream into reality.

"The clothes they wore, the makeup they had and the personality of the characters they played are close to those described in the original novel," he said. "I just can't believe they achieved this with such limited funding and solved all kinds of problems by themselves."

The film also sparked many students' interest in reading the novel.

"I am a science student and not that interested in literature," said Li Chen, a mechanics sophomore.

"But their performance in the film and their passion for the novel have inspired me to read it and see its magic for myself."

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