YANG JIE, director of a TV serial “Journey to the West” first aired on China Central Television in 1986, passed away Saturday at the age of 88. Yang spent six years filming and producing China’s first myth-themed TV serial, “Journey to the West,” between 1982 and 1988. The TV serial has become a collective childhood memory for many Chinese audience members, and it’s been replayed on different TV channels frequently over the past 30 years. Zhang Jinlai, better known by his stage name Liu Xiao Ling Tong, played the role of Monkey King in Yang’s TV serial. “I was grieved to learn from Chi Zhongrui who acted as Priest Tang in the TV serial that our well-beloved director Yang Jie had passed away. It’s a loss for Chinese TV serials,” Zhang said. Zhang said Yang was a mentor to him and she had guided him in his life journey and art career. “I would be nobody without the TV serial ‘Journey to the West.’ We will always miss her,” he said. (Zhang Yang) |