Zhang Weiping

Zhang Weiping (张伟平)

Zhang Weiping (张伟平) is Chinese film producer and supervisor. He is currently chairman of the board of directors of Beijing New Pictures Film Co. Ltd. He is famous for his cooperation with film director Zhang Yimou. He promotes and produces almost every film of the later. Thanks to his broad vision, resoluteness and creativeness, Zhang Yimou's films have been well-known all over the world.

Born in Oct. 8, 1958 in a military family in Beijing, Zhang Weiping grew up in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. In 1977 he worked for the Beijing No. 4 People's Hospital as a pharmacist and majored in pharmacy for almost 10 years. In 1987 served for a foreign-funded company - the Beijing Office of Siemens, as an administrative manager. From 1989 Zhang was engaged in real estate, agent service of aviation food and medicine, and other business activities. With his exceptional ability and wisdom and continuous growing capitals, Zhang finally became the vanguard of a group of nouveau riches in Chinese mainland in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

He got acquainted with Zhang Yimou in a dinner party in 1989 and their first cooperation started in "Keep Cool" in 1996. The release of "Heroes" in 2002 reached a record high of 250 million yuan in domestic box office. Its global box office stood at US$177 million, citing a strong repercussion in the world's film circles. And the two Zhangs have since been called the "golden partners" by insiders.

The following are the main works which Zhang Yimou directed and Zhang Weiping invested in:

"Keep Cool" (有话好好说) in 1996,

"Not One Less" (一个都不能少) in 1998,

"The Road Home" (我的父亲母亲) in 1999,

"Happy Times" (幸福时光) in 2000,

"Heroes" (英雄) in 2002,

"House of Flying Daggers" (十面埋伏) in 2003,

"Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" (千里走单骑) in 2004,

"Curse of the Golden Flower" (满城尽带黄金甲) in 2006,

"A Simple Noodle Story" (三枪拍案) in 2009,

"Under the Hawthorn Tree" (山楂树之恋) in 2010,

"The Flowers of War" (金陵十三钗) in 2011.