Born in Beijing, China, Zhang joined the Beijing Dance Academy at the age of 11, and at 15 she entered China's prestigious Central Academy of Drama (regarded as the top acting college in China).
BEIJING - A Chinese marketer for a British media company refuses to be called anything but Zu Jing, though many of her Chinese co-workers go by Western names like Jeffrey or Julie. Venture capitalist Wayne Shiong has adopted a Western moniker but says it is based on a new Chinese name suggested by a feng-shui master.
The wide screen functions as a canvas for Zhang Yimou's second wuxia or martial-arts action release of the year, an astonishing spectacle painted with bold cinematic brush strokes and a sumptuous color palette.
Wu-Xia is China's central heroic myth, an energetic blend of adventure, romance and martial arts. Chinese kiddies of the '50s and '60s were raised on gallant warrior Wu-Xia, much the way that that generation of young Americans were weaned on the Western.