Zhang Guoli is a Chinese actor and film director who was a xiangsheng actor before he started working on films and television series. He is mostly known for his roles playing the Emperor in various dramas involving Qing Dynasty imperial China. He has also hosted the CCTV New Year's Gala in 2014. In 2009, he became the second Chinese actor to win the "Grand Slam", after winning "Best Actor" at the three biggest Chinese-language television awards including the Feitian Award, the Golden Eagle Award and the Magnolia Award.

Back to 1942 is a 2012 Chinese historical film directed by Feng Xiaogang. It is based on Liu Zhenyun's novel Remembering 1942, and is about a major famine in Henan, China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. On 11 November 2012, the film premiered at the International Rome Film Festival. The film was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.