Director John Woo is back filming in China with a film called “1949,” an epic on modern China from the end of World War II to the formation of People’s Republic, budgeted at $40 million.

Film is to take place on location in China and Taiwan and is set to begin production by the end of 2008.  

Politically, Beijing considers Taiwan — which split off from China in 1949 and has been self-governing ever since — as a renegade province.

The film will star Seong Hye-kyo (”Fetish”) and Chang Chen (”Red Cliff”) and was scripted by Wong Hui Ling (”Lust, Caution”).

The Chinese-language project is based on true events and features a love story set against the backdrop of the final years of China’s civil war before the rise to power of Mao Zedong’s Communist Party.

Woo was in Cannes promoting his first Chinese-language film, “Red Cliff,” which is being sold by Summit Entertainment. It was his first film in China since he left Hong Kong years ago for work in Los Angeles.