Two of China's best-known movie stars, Jet Li, left, and Jackie Chan, are among the celebrities appearing in the forthcoming state-commissioned film The Founding of a Republic. (Kin Cheung/Associated Press)Some of China's best known movie stars will make cameos in a forthcoming, state-sponsored film about the Communist revolution.

Action and martial arts heavyweights Jackie Chan and Jet Li, actress Zhang Ziyi, actor-singer Andy Lau and filmmakers Stephen Chow, John Woo and Chen Kaige are among the scores of Chinese celebrities who have shot scenes for the blockbuster The Founding of a Republic.

Commissioned by the government to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, the film depicts the civil war and how the Chinese Communist Party forced the ruling Nationalists to retreat to Taiwan.

It largely features little-known actors in the main roles, like that of revolution leader Mao Zedong. Many of the major stars are seen only in cameos and unnamed or unidentified roles.

According to a spokesman for the state-run China Film Group, many of the high-profile stars worked for free to help keep the film's budget to between 60 million yuan and 70 million yuan (about $9.3 million to $10.8 million Cdn).

The Founding of a Republic will be released across China on Sept. 17.

On Thursday, Taiwanese film officials said they wouldn't censor the political content in the Chinese epic, which will be released in Taiwan in 2010.

With files from The Associated Press