I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

With such box office success, who would dare to criticize Liu Meng anymore?

If someone were to genuinely and insincerely criticize Liu Meng, wouldn't that be a slap in the face to Zhang Yimou and most directors in China?
Immediately, domestic media outlets began praising Liu Meng to the skies.

Some entertainment websites even used the phrase "punching three major directors and kicking Cheng Sheng".

Of course, this is just some unscrupulous journalists creating sensational headlines.

Although Liu Meng's box office is higher than that of Zhang Guoshi and others, the box office of one of his films is higher than the total box office of more than a dozen of Zhang Guoshi's films.

But this does not mean that Liu Meng is more capable than Zhang Guoshi.

Zhang Yimou has a very high influence in the Chinese film industry.

Before Cheng Sheng debuted, if Gong Li was the queen of acting in Chinese cinema, then Zhang Yimou was the supreme master of Chinese cinema.

For more than a decade, Zhang Yimou has been the undisputed number one figure in Chinese cinema. He laid the foundation for the glory of Chinese art films on the international stage and also ushered in the era of commercial blockbusters for Chinese films. He can be called a milestone figure in the history of Chinese cinema.

So, what gives Zhang Guoshi such influence?
First, there are film awards; in this respect, Cheng Sheng has to admit defeat.

The 1985 film "Yellow Earth" won the Best Cinematography Award at the 5th Golden Rooster Awards and the Best Cinematography Award at the 5th Hawaii International Film Festival.

In 1987, Zhang Yimou starred in "Old Well," for which he won the Best Actor Award at the 2nd Tokyo International Film Festival, the 8th Golden Rooster Award, and the 11th Hundred Flowers Award. [This was Zhang Yimou's first acting role.]

"Red Sorghum," released in 1988, won the Golden Bear at the 38th Berlin International Film Festival, the Best Feature Film Award at the 8th China Golden Rooster Awards, and numerous other international film festival awards. [This marked Zhang Yimou's directorial debut.]

"Ju Dou" (1990) won the Luis Buñuel Special Prize at the 43rd Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Hugo Award for Best Film at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 63rd Academy Awards.

"Raise the Red Lantern" (1991) won the Silver Lion at the 48th Venice International Film Festival, the Best Foreign Language Film at the 36th David di Donatello Awards, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 1992, "The Story of Qiu Ju" won the Golden Lion Award at the 49th Venice International Film Festival, the Best Feature Film Award at the 13th China Golden Rooster Awards, and numerous other film festival awards, making Gong Li a double Best Actress winner at both the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Rooster Awards.

In 1994, "To Live" won the Jury Prize at the 47th Cannes International Film Festival and made Ge You the first Chinese actor to win the Best Actor award at Cannes.

In 1995, "Shanghai Triad" won the Jury Prize in the main competition section of the 48th Cannes Film Festival.

In 1999, "Not One Less" won the Golden Lion at the 56th Venice International Film Festival, the Best Director Award at the 19th China Golden Rooster Awards and the 5th China Huabiao Awards, as well as numerous other film festival awards.

"My Father and Mother" won the Silver Bear at the 50th Berlin International Film Festival, as well as the Best Feature Film and Best Director awards at the 20th Golden Rooster Awards in 2000.

"Hero," released in 2000, won the Alfred Bauer Award at the 53rd Berlin International Film Festival, the Best Director and Best Co-production Film awards at the 23rd China Golden Rooster Awards, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and received dozens of other film awards.

And this year's "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" won Best Asian Film at the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards.

With these awards and achievements, how can Liu Meng compare to Zhang Guoshi?
Secondly, there are commercial films.

All of Zhang Yimou's film honors come from art films, but he is equally outstanding in making commercial blockbusters and has achieved remarkable success there as well.

"Hero" in 2002 was Zhang Yimou's first martial arts film and also his first commercial blockbuster, featuring a star-studded cast including Li Lianjie, Tony Leung, Zhang Manyu, Chen Daoming, and Zhang Ziyi.

Ultimately, it became the highest-grossing Chinese-language film of 2002 with a box office of 2.5 million yuan, and its global box office reached 1.77 million US dollars, with overseas box office being about 5 times that of domestic box office.

Although it received a lot of negative feedback upon its release, "Hero" remains a landmark film in terms of its commercial film model, and Zhang Yimou's masterful use of color in filmmaking remains unmatched to this day. Finally, there's the influence of Zhang Yimou, a director of national stature.

He has been selected as the chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Kyoto Olympics next year.

Taking into account all aspects of his performance, Zhang Yimou is truly the supreme figure in the Chinese film industry.

Despite being hailed as China's top director by many media outlets, Cheng Sheng's influence still falls short of that of Zhang Yimou.

……

The box office news of "The Great Tang Dynasty 2" has caused a great stir in China, but none of this has affected Cheng Sheng's filmmaking.

As the fleet drifted at sea, it soon arrived in Champa.

Champa was the first stop on Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean.

Before filming, Cheng Sheng contacted Champa, and they agreed to cooperate with him in making the movie.

The fleet docked, but Cheng Sheng did not let the actors disembark. Instead, he asked the crew members to go ashore first to buy necessities.

Cheng Sheng prevented the actors from going ashore primarily to protect their safety, since Champa was not part of China.

Most importantly, Champa has recently been experiencing some tension with China due to maritime issues. If the actors go ashore and an accident occurs, it will be too late to regret it.

Cheng Sheng was worried that the crew members would secretly go ashore to play, so he warned them about the dangers involved.

Upon hearing this, the crew members were also a little scared, because they really wanted to go ashore and relax after being at sea for so long.

Now, after hearing Cheng Sheng's words, their desire to go ashore has been extinguished.

Cheng Sheng was worried about something going wrong and dared not stay in Champa for long. Although the Champa authorities had agreed to let them film there, who knew what might happen!

So, after Cheng Sheng had someone buy the goods and bring them back, he had the crew film a few scenes at the battlefield dock, as well as a scene of Liu Dehua playing Zheng He meeting with the Champa officials. He immediately ordered everyone back to the ship and then had the fleet set sail again.

After leaving the waters off Champa, Cheng Sheng and the crew breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sister Li, congratulations on winning the Best Actress Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival."

That evening, after taking a shower, Cheng Sheng picked up his phone and called Zeng Li back in China.

Zeng Li won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival last year for her role in "Ten Red Army Soldiers Sending Off the Red Army", and was nominated for the Shanghai International Film Festival this year.

On June 21, Zeng Li unsurprisingly won the Best Actress Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival, thanks to the domestic and international influence of "Ten Red Army Soldiers Sending Off".

As a "red film," "Ten Red Army Soldiers Sending Off" is also a politically correct film. If the film festival dared to give the award to other films, the Shanghai International Film Festival probably wouldn't need to be held anymore.

Of course, this is not to say that "Ten Send-Offs to the Red Army" used its power to intimidate others, but rather that "Ten Send-Offs to the Red Army" had such a huge influence. (End of this chapter)