Feng Xiaogang
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Feng Xiaogang (冯小刚), (born 1958) is a Chinese film director. The son of a college professor and a factory nurse, he joined Beijing Military Region Art Troupe as a stage designer after high school. He began his cinema work as an art designer in Beijing Television Art Center in 1985. Later, he moved on to write screenplays. During this period, he worked closely with director Zheng Xiaolong and writer Wang Shuo (王朔).
In the late 1990s, Feng established himself in a genre called "Hesui Pian (贺岁片)", or "New Year's Celebration Films" in Chinese cinema. He probably achieved his full fame as the director of the movie Dream Factory (1997). Having achieved success in the face of competition from Hollywood within mainland China, University of Minnesota professor, Jason McGrath, believes "The entertainment cinema of Feng Xiaogang represents a new model of a Chinese national cinema that positions itself vis-à-vis Hollywood."
Feng is renowned for making comedies with "Beijing style dialogs". Almost all of his films star Ge You(葛优) in a major role.He married actress Xu Fan (徐帆) in 1999.