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The film has been slated as the Chinese answer to Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List", a biographical story of a German businessman who saved the lives of thousands of Polish Jews during the Holocaust. But Lu Chuan vehemently denies this. 200,000 Chinese refugees crowded into the 2 square mile Nanking (Nanjing) Safety Zone, set up by a small group of Westerners, led by German businessman John Rabe, who elected to sit out the Japanese occupation. Backed by Chinese investors, the film's estimated budget is 26 million U.S. dollars. China says Japanese troops slaughtered 300,000 unarmed soldiers and civilians. An Allied tribunal after World War Two put the death toll at about 142,000 and found that more than 20,000 rapes were committed. Studios in Japan and America are currently making their own film and documentary versions of the Nanking occupation. STORY: On the set filming Nanking! Nanking!...a new movie depicting a key moment in China's modern history. The film is just one of several being made this year of a massacre that happened seventy years ago. It focuses on a group of refugees sheltering from Japanese troops. Well-known Chinese director Lu Chuan insists his film will be objective. SOUNDBITE: Lu Chuan, director, saying (English): "Yes, I am a Chinese film director but I try to be independent and not make a movie trying to satisfy the Chinese audience or make the whole world hate Japanese people - no, I'm not going to make such a movie." On December 13, 1937, Japanese troops marched into Nanking. Chinese figures estimate the death toll over the next few months to be as high as 300,000. The event continues to sour China-Japan diplomatic relations. Many Chinese say Japan has not yet acknowledged its war-time actions. The film's lead actress, Gao Yuanyuan, who learnt about Nanking in primary school, says she's proud to be a part of the film. SOUNDBITE: Gao Yuanyuan, lead actress, saying (Mandarin): "To forget about history and to forget about these atrocities is more terrifying than watching them happening. I think this is the reason, we are not here today because we want to stir up hate. I think its because there is a need to know the history and to remember." Only time will tell whether these historical films, popular with the Chinese public, will take their toll on modern day China-Japan relations. In Tianjin, I'm Tyra Dempster for Reuters.