Sorry. Post got cut off. The director of both movies was Zhang Yi Mou (sp?). "To Live" and "The Story of Qu" (I'm going on memory on that title) were both very anti-communist, especially considering the time it was made.
Yes, those movies are and some are banned from China, some are not. However, they have never bar him from making movies in general. He has, however, turned a nationalistic tone in recent years.
Still, i never get what the fascination was with Zhang Ziyi - i can understand Gong Li, but Ziyi is really not comparable to the great Gong Li.