Jia Zhangke, a man running towards his dream

Chinese director Jia Zhangke celebrates after winning at the 66th Cannes Film Festival. Photo provided to China Daily

Jia has a strong sense of time and has been engaged, heart and soul, into his film creations. "His dedication to the films is very attractive to me. He loves the films even better than his life," said Jia's wife Zhao Tao.

Zhao, also the leading actress of Mountains May Depart, revealed that Jia likes to be involved directly in everything about his films and have all the details carefully worked out. "Our team is centered on the director's artistic creation, and we just help him complete his artistic plan," she said.

According to Zhao, her husband is too busy to have time to go out for recreational activities. Sometimes he works for 22 hours in a day. "He never goes shopping with me and seldom takes a break on weekends or holidays," she said.

Jia is described as "a running man" by his friends -- a director who is always in an attempt to turn his strong feelings about every single moment of life into his films. There was something behind this.

Jia's favorite classic novel is the Heroes of the Marshes - a Chinese novel of the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) written by Shi Nai'an. The story has left an indelible impression on him and therefore has affected his artistic creations - the hero Lin Chong ran wildly for his life at midnight. It has stimulated his creative inspiration to make his films closely linked with the changeable contemporary reality in which people keep on advancing and exploring as long as they are alive.