Individual facts checked 2026-10-08. Names and dates follow the source; unknown details stay open for research.
Career notes.
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts’ 2010 citation records Zhang Yimou’s graduation from Beijing Film Academy with the class of 1982 and his cinematography on Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earth (1984). It also describes his opera work: directing Turandot at Beijing’s Forbidden City and designing The First Emperor, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 2006.