Director Zhang Jizhong Turns 70 in the Company of His Three Young Kids and Wife

Wishing Zhang Jizhong a very happy birthday! The famous director just marked a huge milestone this week, celebrating 7 full decades around the sun in the company of his good friends and close family.

It’s not every day you get to toast turning the big 7-0. And so, in keeping with tradition, a small banquet celebrating the occasion was held in the birthday boy’s honour. From the short clip he shared on social media, it appears a good time was had by all including his in-laws who fondly looked on whilst Zhang Jizhong and his kids blew out the candle on his peach shaped birthday cake symbolising longevity.

As one of the most influential multi-hyphenates in the Chinese film industry known for quite a number of wuxia hits like Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, Legend of the Condor Heroes (2003) series and its second instalment The Return of the Condor Heroes (2006) starring Liu Yifei and Huang Xiaoming, Zhang Jizhong has in recent years started to gradually pull back from the public eye. In the snippets he occasionally shares on social media, the producer-director appears to prefer spending more quality time now with his three young kids and his wife Du Xinglin.

Zhang Jizhong welcomed the birth of his youngest daughter at age 69. It was also last year that he finally addressed the controversies surrounding his current wife. Aside from their age gap of over 30 years, Zhang Jizhong’s ex-wife Fan Xinman whom he divorced in 2016 had previously accused Du Xinglin publicly of breaking up their family. Zhang Jizhong explained that his family now was formed after his previous marriage failed. He and Du Xinglin legally married on March 5, 2017. They have one son born in 2019 and one daughter born in 2020. Zhang Jizhong also said that his kids are legitimate including his 6-year-old son Martin (马丁) whose mother’s identity hasn’t been disclosed.

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