Zhang Yimou 

Chinese director Zhang Yimou's first spy thriller Cliff Walkers debuted in China on April 30, joining a packed screening lineup during the five-day May Day holiday starting on May 1, usually a busy movie-going period.

The action flick is Zhang's first time trying his hand at the spy genre, as the director broadens his project list away from the kungfu epics that have dominated his body of work in the past decade or so. His martial arts thriller Hero made international headlines in 2002.

Zhang, 71, born in Shaanxi Province, is one of the most critically acclaimed Chinese filmmakers. In 1987, Zhang directed his first film, Red Sorghum. The epic won a Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival.

Zhang also produced a series of intensely moving period dramas about the emotional inequalities suffered by women in Chinese history, including Ju Dou (1990), Raise the Red Lantern (1992) and To Live (1994).