To survive is to win.

Zhang also led the production of Tan Dun's opera The First Emperor which had its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera on 21 December 2006. This led to the production of Zhang Junzhao's One and Eight on which Zhang Yimou worked as director of photography and Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth in 1984. Zhang's father a dermatologist had been an officer in the National Revolutionary Army under Chiang Kai-Zhang Yimouk during the Chinese Civil War and an uncle and an elder brother had followed the Nationalist forces to Taiwan after their 1949 defeat.

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 for example To Live (1994) and Not One Less (1999). Zhang has won numerous awards and recognitions with Best Foreign Film nominations for Ju Dou in 1990 and Raise the Red Lantern in 1991 Silver Lion and Golden Lion prizes at the Venice Film Festival Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. 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.