One of Zhang's recurrent themes is the resilience of Chinese people in the face of hardship and adversity, a theme which has been explored in such films as To Live and Not One Less His films are particularly noted for their rich use of colour, as can be seen in some of his early films, like Raise the Red Lantern , and in his wuxia films like Hero and House of Flying Daggers. In , Zhang received an honorary doctorate from Yale, [ 11 ] and in , he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Boston University.
Zhang was born on 14 November in Xi'an , the capital of Shaanxi province. During the Cultural Revolution of the s and s, Zhang left his school studies and went to work, first as a farm labourer for 3 years, and later at a cotton textile mill for 7 years in the city of Xianyang.
After two years, Zhang managed to become an official student and completed the full four-year program. The class went on to form the core of the Fifth Generation , who were a part of an artistic reemergence in China after the end of the Cultural Revolution.
Zhang and his co-graduates were assigned to various state-run studios, and Zhang was sent to work for the Guangxi Film Studio as a cinematographer. Though originally intended to work as director's assistants, the graduates soon discovered there was a dearth of directors so soon after the Cultural Revolution, and gained permission to start making their own films. These two films were successes at the Hong Kong Film Festival and helped to bring the new Chinese cinema to the attention of worldwide audiences, signaling a departure from the earlier propagandist films of the Cultural Revolution.
In , after moving back to his home town of Xi'an, Zhang was engaged as cinematographer and lead actor for director Wu Tianming 's upcoming film Old Well , which was subsequently released in Red Sorghum was met with critical acclaim, bringing Zhang to the forefront of the world's art directors, and winning him a Golden Bear for Best Picture at the 38th Berlin International Film Festival in However, it garnered less-than-positive reviews at home and Zhang himself later dismissed the film as his worst.
