On May 7th, a netizen revealed that her mother’s car was hit by the famous director Zhang Jizhong while driving in Hangzhou. Zhang Jizhong promised not to flee the scene and said he needed to first drop off his child at school, introducing himself. Interestingly, the netizen’s mother responded that she didn’t recognize him.
A netizen posted a photo on social media with the caption: “My mom’s car was hit by director Zhang Jizhong. The funniest part was that Zhang Jizhong said: ‘I’ll go drop off my child first, I won’t run away, I am Zhang Jizhong.’ My mom responded: ‘Sorry, I don’t know you.’ He even left his phone number, now we have a big director’s contact!”
The photo showed a traffic officer handling the accident, with Zhang Jizhong showing something on his phone to the officer for verification.
The netizen also shared screenshots of the conversation with her mother, indicating that Zhang Jizhong returned to the scene after dropping off his child at school to deal with the traffic accident, and the traffic officer determined that Zhang Jizhong was fully responsible.
During the wait for the traffic police, Zhang Jizhong chatted with the netizen’s mother about daily life, mentioning he has four children, with the youngest being just 6 months old and the oldest being 10 years old, as he plans to shoot short videos to support his children.
Some netizens commented, saying, “Director Zhang returned immediately after dropping off his child, truly responsible! He didn’t evade responsibility and raising a family is not easy, long live understanding.”
Public records show that the now 74-year-old Zhang Jizhong was born in Beijing, graduated from the Central Academy of Drama, and is a well-known Chinese director, producer, and screenwriter. He has been involved in the production of popular TV dramas such as “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer,” “Legend of the Condor Heroes,” “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils,” “The Return of the Condor Heroes,” and “Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre.”
In 2016, Zhang Jizhong divorced for the second time and the following year remarried a 31-year-old manager, Du Xinglin, with whom he has three children. In recent years, Zhang Jizhong has frequently live-streamed selling products with his wife, reportedly earning 230 million Chinese yuan through product sales in 2024.
On the evening of the 7th, Zhang Jizhong responded to the circulating car accident incident. He told “Red Star News” that the incident occurred on the morning of the 7th, but many details were different from what was described in the online post. He explained that after exiting the residential area in his car, there was a minor collision with an oncoming vehicle, describing it as a “minor traffic accident involving two vehicles.”
Zhang Jizhong stated, “The insurance company directly compensated for the minor collision, not a major one.”
He also clarified that he never mentioned shooting short videos to support his family, saying, “It’s my wife who makes short videos, not me. I never said such a thing.”
By the morning of the 8th, Zhang Jizhong’s response became a hot topic, prompting the netizen who made the revelation to clarify the facts and delete the original post.