Career
Unlike his better-known contemporaries, Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, who made their names with historical dramas, Wu Ziniu is best known for his early war films. His 1985 film on the Sino-Vietnamese War, Dove Tree, was the first film by a Fifth Generation director to be banned by the Chinese government. There he directed four films, including the children"s film, The Candidate, the war films Secret Decree and Dove Tree, and the drama, The Last Day of Winter.
Throughout the late 1980s, Wu would continue to direct films, often highlighting the brutality of war and the effect on civilians, as in 1988"s Joyous Heroes and its sequel Between Life and Death.
With the 1990s, Wu would draw on foreign capital, primarily from Hong Kong to help produce his historical films Sparkling Fox and The Big Mill.