Zhou Bing

Zhou Bing (simplified Chinese: 周兵; pinyin: Zhōu Bing , Zhoubing ; born 1 April 1968),^[1] famous Chinese documentary director, a PhD from History College of Nankai University, have successively served as the column scenarist and special program production manager of the program titled with “Oriental Biography” and director of special program division of CND Film Group. Zhou Bing was titled with annual director of Chinese documentary film for three times, and the documentary films created and produced by him amounts to 100 hundred units. His masterpieces including Palace, Dun Huang and Road of Millenia Bodhi were aired on CCTV, National Geographic, SKY TV, History Channel, Arte, and NDR.^[2] Currently he establishes Beijing Oriental Elites Culture Development Co Ltd and works with Tiong Hiew King, the datuk of Tan Sri, Malaysia to setup Sun Media International Co. Ltd and Zero Media International Co. Ltd. Zhou Bing attempted to join in the development of industrialization process of documentary films with the identity of independent directors. Zhou Bing is also a Adjunct Professor in the Department of Media and Communication of City University of Hong Kong.^[3][4] It is art dream of Mr Zhou who has been desiring to realize through images to broadcast Chinese culture and to build oriental aesthetic approach with the images recognized by the world.

Biography

• From 1993 to 1995, Zhou Bing made Masters of Chinese Painting (including famous painters such as Zhu Qizhan, Wu Zuoren, He Haixia, Huang Zhou, Zhang Ding, Guan Shanyue, Li Xiongcai, Xie Zhiliu, Wu Guanzhong, Cheng Shifa, Huang Yongyu, Dong Shouping, etc.), Masters of Arts and Crafts (including great masters such as Gao Gongbo, Li Bosheng, Wang Yinxian, Xia Wucailang, Gu Wenxia, Qin Xilin, etc.), and Chinese Scholars (including famous scholars such as Ji Xianlin, Fei Xiaotong, Hu Sheng, Zhang Zhongxing, Ren Jiyu, Yu Qiuyu, etc.). Besides, he directed and produced about a hundred of episodes of Oriental Sons including Bing Xin, Bei Yuming, Chen Ning Yang ( also Yang Zhenning or Frank Yang), Samuel Chao Chung Ting ( also Ding Zhaozhong), Sun Yueqi, Wu Shuqing, Zhou Gucheng, Ye Qiaobo, Li Guoan, Long Yongtu, etc.
• In August, 1995, Zhou bing directed and produced China’s first series of experimental programs of “Representation of Reality”, called Unforgettable.
• In 1996, he served as Writer-Director of a full-length documentary called Zhou Enlai. And this documentary was awarded Special Award of Documentary Academic Committee, Five-One Project Awards and Special Award of China TV Golden Eagle Awards.
• In 1997, Zhou bing directed Mei Lanfang 1930. Starting from this program, he began to produce documentaries of people through “representation of reality” as the major film and television exploring means. Otherwise, he tried to produce TV programs by cinematic techniques and operation modes. And this program won the Second Level Award of Chinese Documentary Academic Committee.
• In July, 1999, Zhou bing served as the Chief Writer-Director of Memories, a full-length documentary jointly produced by Oriental Time and Space and China Television Media Co., Ltd.
• Zhou bing sorted prominent Chinese figures of 20th century and produced into television programs, including 30 historical and cultural celebrities such as Huang Xing, Cai E, Lu Xun, Mei Lanfang, Liang Sicheng, Shen Congwen, A Bing, Yan Yangchu, Soong Ching-ling (also Song Qingling), Lu Zuofu, etc. It received active and tremendous responses both from the TV theory field and the public audiences after broadcasting. In September, 2000, he worked as the producer of Oriental Time and Space and Chronicle, during this time, he planned and organized to broadcast over a hundred episodes of documentaries.
• In May, 2002, he was in charge of planning, organizing and hosting a large academic activity, “Review and Screen the Past Two Decades of Chinese TV Documentary.” Some comments said that this meeting was one of “Top 3 Meetings of Chinese TV Documentary in Two Decades.” In the same year, he acted as the keynote speaker at Report Meeting of CCTV’s Research Projects hosted by Research Bureau of CCTV’s Chief Editing Office.
• In May, 2003, he served as the chief director of Imperial Palace, a full-length documentary. It was the first time that the Imperial Palace fully and openly cooperated with CCTV, as well as a prominently large-scale television production through jointly and solidly sorting China’s history, culture and art. In 2004, he planned a full-length documentary called War of Resistance. It won China Radio, Television and Film Prize, as well as Radio and Television Prize; It won Best Full-length Documentary and Best Cinematography, in the category of Humanity and Social Class of 8th Sichuan TV Festival International “Gold Panda” Awards for Documentaries；It won Best Full-length Documentary of 23rd China TV “Golden Eagle” for Documentaries;It won Best Writer-Director and Best Cinematography of 23rd China TV “Golden Eagle” for Documentaries’ Single Award; It was rated as Best Writing and Top 10 Documentaries of China TV Documentaries 2004-2005 by TV Documentary Academic Committee of China TV Artists’ Association; The 11th episode of Imperial Palace was rated as First Level Award of Sound Golden Sail of Features by SARFT(the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television); It won Top Ten Documentaries and a single award of Music and Sound Award at Picture-choosing Meeting of International Documentaries 2006 hosted by Radio and Television Association; It won Award of the Year of Chinese Film and TV Works-Chinese Film and TV Academy Award for 2006 presented by Film and TV Academy of Chinese Colleges and Universities; He won Best Director presented by both China Radio and Television Association and Documentary Channel of Shanghai TV by virtue of this work; It won Classic Documentary for Two Decades in the category of Documentary Films; It won Top 10 Documentaries for A Decade presented by China Radio and Television Association.
• In 2005, he directed a full-length documentary, Mei Lanfang. It was nominated as Top 10 Documentaries for 2005 presented by Picture-choosing Meeting of Chinese Documentaries;It won Academy Award and Top 10 Documentaries of 11th China TV Documentaries; It won Award of Full-length Documentary of 23rd Golden Eagle Awards;It won Classic Award for Two Decades of Chinese Documentary Films for 2007; It won Special Award for TV Documentaries of 2004-2005 presented by Jiangsu TV; It won Five-One Project Award of Jiangsu province.
• In 2005, he served as Chief Director of Dunhuang, a full-length documentary.It won Special Jury Award of Golden Panda in the category of humanity class in 2009; It won First Level Award of Program for Documenting China·2009; It was nominated as Annual Programs of 2010 for Chinese Documentaries presented by Report of Development Research of China’s Documentaries for 2006;
• In 2006, he acted as Producer and Art Director for KunQu (Kun Opera) of Sexcentenary. It won Outstanding Documentary Award of 24th China TV Golden Eagle Awards; It won Award of TV Art Features of 21st Starlight Award for 2006.
• During the period from 2005 to 2007, he took part in the joint production of the international edition of the documentary of The Imperial Palace (the name of international edition was Decoding of The Forbidden City), which was broadcast in 26 languages among 164 countries in the whole world, with 290 million families watching all over the world;
• In 2007, Zhou bing served as one of the Chief directors of When the Louvre Meets the Forbidden City . That was the first time when the Louvre Museum opens its gate to Chinese film crew at such large scale. It has won Top Ten Documentaries Award of 7th “International Selection Competition for Chinese Documentaries”. It has been named as an Official Selection of the Second Annual Macao, China International Digital Cinema Festivals film competition.
• The Documentary Dunhuang, with him as the Chief Director, was introduced and broadcast by the main media in countries and areas such as Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong of China and Taiwan of China.
• The documentary The Bund directed by Zhou Bing was officially released by CCTV in 2010. Transcending the traditional form of the documentaries, the film not only showed the life in previous Shanghai through recreating the scenes in the film, but also invited celebrities to star the writer Zhang Ailing, the actress Zhou Xuan, the gangster chief Du Yuesheng and other historical figures, “telling about" the vicissitudes of the bund. The film premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival and aired on the National Geographic Channel. Instead of elaborating on a straight historical timeline of the Bund, the movie is divided into four acts. The first three explore the lives of six individuals. The last act concludes how their fates have been associated with the ups and downs of the Bund.It was as appraised to be the one of the Classic Works of China TV Documentaries (2010) by China Television Artists’ Association. It was also awarded as the Special Award of the Outstanding TV Documentaries, the 29th Session of the “Star and Flower Prize” of the Central New Pictures Group. 
• 2010，Zhou Bing lead the team of The Forbidden City to once again produce a full-length high-definition documentary - A Century with Cars. It was released by CCTV10. A Century with Cars is not only a full-length documentary on the car, but also an epic on the evolution of human society. The 12-episode full-length HD TV program was the first film in China to regard the 100-year development history of cars as a clue, reflecting the endeavor of mankind for the ideals. The film broke the record of China's feature films on the car in the production funds and labor input.It was awarded as the second prize of the sixth session of “Record· China” Excellence Comment by China Radio and Television Association.
• At the end of 2013, historical and cultural documentary South of the Ocean ,directed by Zhou Bing, was broadcast on CCTV. This shooting of this documentary lasted for five years, and nearly 20,000 minutes of materials were captured in it, showing the development experiences of Chinese in the Southeast Asian countries and their lives in different periods. It was first shown in the United States History Channel (with coverage in Southeast Asia), and received numerous praise in Southeast Asia. In the ceremony of the "Golden Kapok Award" during the 2013 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, South of the Ocean was awarded the Best Documentary Series Program.
• In 2015, Snow Leopard , the documentary was played in CCTV-9 Documentary Channel, it was a scheme for natural environment for the first transition of Zhou Bing, general director who was skilled in human history documentary and made contact with the animal that was the most uncooperative with the shoot. It was awarded as the first prize of the excellence creation review & appraisal (nature) item of the 9th session of "Records. China" by China Alliance of Radio, Film and Television.
• 2017, Understanding Asia China:The Legacy Of Cixi directed by Zhou Bing was released on Channel NewsAsia Channel. Through the eyes of Cixi,the episode examines the influences that have shaped the Chinese people's characteristics through the historical stories of Cixi - the Empress Dowager of the last Chinese dynasty.

Filmography

Published Works

Personal Honor

References

5.< Nanyang odyssey> -China Daily Asia

6.Documentary Dunhuang on screen on New Year’s Day, Zhou Bing’s Production premier on CCTV - Tencent Entertainment

7.Hall of Frame in CCTV－Zhou Bing

8.Masterclass Trainer: Zhou Bing 周兵－Singapore Media Academy 9.I Love Documentary: Interview of Director ZHOU Bing

10. “We spent four years shooting Snow Leopard,but we did it" interview of the general director Zhou Bing by kknews