A longtime professor at Beijing Film Academy, he trained many prominent Chinese filmmakers including Zhang Yimou.
He received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival in 2018.
[1][2] In 1999, Zheng went to Chengdu and helped establish the cinematography department at Sichuan Film and Television University.
[2] Zheng co-directed the film At the Foot of the Icy Mountain (1984) and was the cinematographer for A Girl's Tomb (1982) and Red Waves in the Blue Sea (1975), among others.
[3] In November 2018, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival (中国金鸡百花电影节).