With more and more domestic movies making their way into local cinemas, China is now the world's second largest film market. This has come about thanks to the sterling work of many of the country's young filmmakers over the years. Today, we meet with one of China's pioneers in this area, a man who says he's been on a mission to keep producing higher-quality material over the past two decades.

In 2018, three films produced by Yu Dong and his company were awarded the "Outstanding Feature Film" at the 17th Huabiao Film Awards ceremony.

Among them was "Operation Red Sea"- the highest grossing film in China in 2018.

Back to 1990, Yu Dong, who had just entered the Beijing Film Academy, never thought he could made such achievements.

The Chinese film industry saw a downturn in the 1990s due to a lack of high quality domestic films. It was then Yu Dong decided to found his own company and to make films.

YU DONG, CEO BONA FILM GROUP "I only had 30-thousand yuan at that time. That was the money I saved for my wedding. Later I borrowed 270-thousand yuan from others. With 300-thousand yuan in total, I started my company."

In the 2000s, the development of China's film industry entered a new era as more and more Hong Kong filmmakers and movie stars came to the mainland to seek new opportunities.

In 2001, the Bona Film Group released its first Chinese mainland - Hong Kong co-production - "My Sisters and Brothers". The film was the second highest grossing film in China that year.

YU DONG, CEO BONA FILM GROUP "'My Sisters and Brothers' raked in 20 million yuan in the box office. More importantly, people in China got to know me and the Bona Film Group."

The Chinese film market faced big challenges from Hollywood commercial blockbusters since 2002. It was also the year Yu Dong made the decision to produce domestic commercial films.

Together with famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou, the Bona Film Group released its first commercial film "Hero" by the end of 2002.

YU DONG, CEO BONA FILM GROUP "Thanks to the success of 'Hero', I got more chances to work with Hong Kong filmmakers. They said I am the one they could have a long term cooperation with."

In 2004, the Bona Film Group's 3D epic action film "The Taking of Tiger Mountain", topped the Chinese box office during its opening week.

In bringing the epic story to the screen, Yu Dong, together with Hong Kong director Hark Tsui, made notable efforts from character development and scene selection, to visual effects.

YU DONG, CEO BONA FILM GROUP "The film depicts a heroic story that happened 50 years ago. How to make such an old story appealing to today's audience was a big challenge for us. We had to revamp it with the performance style, language and film techniques that they are familiar with."

In 2015, the Chinese film industry saw a boom and earned a total of 44 billion yuan or 6.4 billion dollars in the box office.

It was also the year Yu Dong and Hong Kong director Dante Lam started to work on "Operation Mekong" and "Operation Red Sea", which later became two of the best Chinese war genre films.

Thanks to the efforts of filmmakers like Yu Dong, many say there will be a golden era for the Chinese film industry in the next decade.