EastSouthWestNorth translates an article written last year about Chinese director Chen Kaige's expensive historical epic The Promise, which was scheduled to open before Lunar New Year this year. Like many epics filmed in China these days, the story occurs in a ravishingly beautiful natural setting — in this case, Shangri-La county in Yunnan province. The article chronicles how the filming left the area ruined: marred with half-completed structures and littered with trash.