U kende de man al van het Rode Korenveld, van Leven, van de Rode Lantaarns en van de magische kungfu-films waar hij later furore mee maakte. En natuurlijk, Zhang Yimou was tevens verantwoordelijk voor het magistrale openingsmoment van de Olympische Spelen in Peking in augustus 2008.
In een interview na die ceremonie zei hij het volgende:
“I have conducted operas in the West. It was so troublesome. They only work four and a half days each week. Everyday there are two coffee breaks. There cannot be any discomfort, because of human rights. This can really worry me to death. Wow, one week, I thought I should have rehearsed it very smoothly already, but they could not even stand in straight lines yet. You could not criticize them either. They all belong to some organizations. ….they have all kind of institutions, unions. We do not have that. We can work very hard, can withstand lots of bitterness. We can achieve in one week what they can achieve in one month. Therefore our actors can give such a high quality performance. I think other than North Korea, no other country can achieve this in the world”.