# red culture

A Soldier’s Truth on Screen: Zhang Yongshou and the Making of China’s Wartime Icons

Zhang Yongshou, who enlisted at 14 and later served in the Korean War, became a prominent actor and director in China’s military cinema. He turned frontline entertainment into a lifelong mission to render the ‘soul of the soldier’ on screen, shaping popular memory and serving official narratives about sacrifice and service.