Tao Jing

Tao Jing, born in 1960 in Beijing, China, is a well-known Chinese film sound recordist. He graduated from the Sound Department of the Beijing Film Academy and has worked in film sound recording. In 1987 he worked on the film Haizi Wang (孩子王, often translated as The King of the Children), using synchronous sound technology to give the film a more realistic and delicate audio effect, which received high praise from the industry. He went on to work on the sound recording for many domestic films, including Heilou Guhun (黑楼孤魂), Oh, Xiangxue (哦，香雪), and Bian Zou Bian Chang (边走边唱, literally “Walking and Singing”), demonstrating distinctive technical methods and innovative thinking in sound processing.

In 1992, Tao Jing completed the sound work for Chen Kaige’s film Farewell My Concubine (霸王别姬), creating a grand and emotionally powerful sonic atmosphere for the film. In 1994, he applied his sound-creation skills to the film To Live (活着), integrating the film’s soundscapes. In 1995 he collaborated with Zhang Yimou on the production Ya Ya Ya, Yao Dao Waipo Qiao (摇啊摇，摇到外婆桥), showing exaggerated and transformational techniques in sound design. Tao Jing is an advocate of synchronous sound, believing this technique can most authentically present the charm of cinema.

In 1998 Tao Jing was the sound recordist for The Emperor and the Assassin (荆轲刺秦王) and won the Best Sound award at the China Golden Rooster Awards for that film. After 2000 he frequently collaborated with Zhang Yimou, working on the sound for films such as Hero (英雄), House of Flying Daggers (十面埋伏), Curse of the Golden Flower (满城尽带黄金甲), Under the Hawthorn Tree (山楂树之恋), The Flowers of War (金陵十三钗), and Coming Home (归来). He has repeatedly won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Sound, including wins for Hero and Coming Home.

Tao Jing has also gained an international reputation in the film and television industry. He won the American Film Golden Reel Award for sound design for Ya Ya Ya, Yao Dao Waipo Qiao, and received the top technical prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Farewell My Concubine. In 2008 he served as the sound effects director for the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony and was the sound supervisor for the Hollywood film The Forbidden Kingdom (功夫之王), becoming the first ethnic Chinese sound supervisor on a major Hollywood picture.

In addition, in 2012 Tao Jing won the Motion Picture Sound Editors’ award for Best Sound Editing for a Foreign Language Film for Zhang Yimou’s The Flowers of War. His achievements in the art of sound have earned him multiple domestic and international honors, including several nominations and awards from the China Golden Rooster Awards, the Hong Kong Film Awards, Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In 2021 he won the Best Sound award at the 34th China Golden Rooster Awards for the film One Second (一秒钟).