Film director Zhang Yimou and actress Gong Li wave to the public at Cannes Film Festival in 1995. [Photo/VCG]

Film director Zhang Yimou had a difficult start with his college and movie dream. In 1978, Beijing Film Academy began its enrollment in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, after the resumption of gaokao. But Zhang Yimou was too old to be admitted. After knocking on every door, he finally got the chance to sit in college classes after the then-culture minister made an exemption for him.