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Xie Jin attends a charitable event in Shanghai in June 2008. [Photo/IC]

Xie Jin (1923-2008), born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, was one of the best-known and highly-regarded Chinese film directors of the 20th century.

He rose to fame in 1957 when Woman Basketball Player No.5 achieved nationwide acclaim. Xie wrote and directed the film.

Xie's career peaked in the 1980s, when his thought-provoking realist masterpieces Legend of Tianyun Mountain, The Herdsman, and Hibiscus Town were released.

In 1995, Xie chose Hengdian town in Dongyang, Zhejiang province as the site of his epic film The Opium War. To shoot the film, a local company built a 19th-century Guangzhou street there in just over four months, which gradually expanded and evolved into today's Hengdian World Studios, the world's largest film and TV drama shooting base.

Xie's works won the Hundred Flowers Award five times and the Golden Rooster Award three times. These two awards are the most prestigious film awards on the Chinese mainland. Xie also received the Golden Rooster Award for Lifelong Achievements in 2005.