At age 14 was rounded up and sent to clear forests on a rubber plantation in a remote mountain village in southern Yunnan Province

Worked as a farmer and factory worker in Yunnan for three years during the Cultural Revolution

Denounced his noted filmmaker father

Joined the army to escape the plantation; served for five years

Acted as an aide to the Viet Cong

Returned to Beijing to take the film academy exam

After the Cultural Revolution, enrolled in the Peking Film Academy

Emigrated to USA to teach for a year at NYU's film school and to study in New York (dates approximate)

Film "Farewell My Concubine" banned in his native China

Helmed "Temptress Moon"

Directed the sweeping historical epic "The Emperor and the Assassin"

English-language dirctorial debut "Killing Me Softly", starring Heather Graham

Helmed the film "Master of the Crimson Armor/The Promise"; film earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign-Language Film