Zheng Junli (1911-1969), born in Pinglan Village, Sanxiang Town, a famous movie and drama artist, was praised as a man good at both acting and directing, who made a lot of fruitful acheivements. In 1928, he went to study in drama department of Nanguo Art School, and then he joined the Southern China Drama Union. In 1932 he became an actor under contract with Lianhua Film Company. While with Lianhua, he played important roles in more than 20 movies and dramas such as New Woman, Wild Rose, Highway, Stray Sheep, etc. In 1937 he joined the third anti-enemy troupe in Shanghai, and soon he became the vice director of it. During the War of Resistance against Japan, he was the director of News Department of Chinese Film Studios, and filmed the newsreel Long Live the Nation. In 1946 he became the director of Kunlun Movie Company in Shanghai, and he worked with Cai Chusheng to direct the famous movie The Spring River Flows East. Among his works, the Crow and Sparrow, which was an independent work of his own, was the best one. In the 1950s, he directed Spring Comes to the Withered Tree, which had the implication of traditional Chinese painting, while the two biographical movies Lin Zexu and Nie Er vividly exhibited the historical figures. He did not restrain the actors’ performance in the history, which climbed to the peak of historical movies at that time.

Nie Er won him the Award for Biographical Movies in the 12th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In 1995 he was granted the title of the Best Chinese Film Director of the Century Award. He has written a lot of works on films.

In 1969, he was persecuted by the Gang of Four and passed way.