Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
In 1982, the film Chariots of Fire won four Oscars, including Best Picture. It told the stories of two British runners, including Eric Liddell, a Scottish athlete born in China who refused to compete in the 100-meter heats because they were scheduled on a Sunday. Ziyin Wang (王子因) is a Chinese-American filmmaker and founder of the ministry Love in China Communications. Since the early 2000s, he has dreamed of producing a film about Eric Liddell’s life after the 1924 Paris Olympics. Following God’s call on his life, Liddell returned to China as a missionary, eventually dying in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. The film is titled Flying Man. I recently talked with Ziyin about his life and how God called him to produce this film.
What is your professional background?
In 1992, after graduating from a major university with a journalism degree, I began work at a local television station as a reporter, cameraman, and editor. Later, at age 28, I was promoted to head of the news department, where I supervised more than 100 news anchors, reporters, and editors. This is where I learned production work for live broadcasting and documentaries. It was an extraordinary opportunity because I was not a member of the Chinese Communist Party, which is usually required for such a position. I think this was a blessing from God and was part of his divine purpose for my life.
How did you become a Christian?
I became a Christian in 1998. At that time, my wife and parents also became Christians. Because I worked for a state-controlled media company, it was difficult for me to participate in a local church. As a family, we studied the Bible and worshipped together at home. We were secret believers.
Why did you go to the United States?
In 2001, I went to the US to pursue a master’s degree in journalism at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. At that time, I expected that China would eventually become more open. I wanted to prepare for that future, for a more open China, a new era.
Those years in Connecticut were a time of spiritual growth. I became involved in an American church and was very eager to study the Bible. We studied the Bible on Friday nights, and I was so excited the night before that I couldn’t sleep. I was baptized in 2001.
During that time, I lived with an American couple, Fred and Vicky Sigworth, who demonstrated what it means to live as a Christian. Fred was a professor at Yale School of Medicine, and Vicky served with Youth for Christ. When Fred developed cancer and underwent numerous surgeries, the family responded in worship and prayer. Many Christian friends visited and prayed with them. Their hospitality challenged my understanding of love. At one time, they had taken in a man who had been involved in criminal activity. Their love let them look beyond his criminal past and see him as lovely. I was totally humbled. They inspired me in my journey to follow Jesus as a filmmaker and minister.
What did you do after you graduated?
Following graduation in 2003, I was invited to work on the post-production of The Cross: Jesus in China, a four-hour documentary series about Christianity in China. Working on that project convinced me that filmmaking could become a ministry. Later, Christian mentors encouraged me to attend Logos Evangelical Seminary. I graduated in 2006 with an MDiv and continued working in mass communications. I prayed every day and night and realized that God was calling me to mass media ministry.
How did you develop a vision for telling China’s Christian story?
God used three events to call me. The first was when God opened the door for my wife to come to the US in 2002. Her visa application to join me had already been denied three times. I was so discouraged and was ready to return to China to be with her. I prayed for guidance: Should I continue pursuing my education or return to China? God gave me the words, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33, NIV). Then he gave me another verse: “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matthew 19:6, NIV). A few weeks later, my wife got a visa, and we were joyfully reunited. As soon as I heard that her visa had been granted, I knelt and prayed, “What a powerful God you are! I will fulfill my promise to keep your kingdom first.”
The second calling was just before I graduated from Logos Evangelical Seminary. Two large churches invited me to serve as a pastor for their Chinese congregations. Again, I prayed for guidance. This time, God gave me the words, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation” (Romans 15:20, NIV).
Instead of becoming a full-time pastor, I started a new ministry called Love in China Communications. The ministry’s mission was to tell the true and compelling stories of missionaries to China, including Eric Liddell, James Hudson Taylor, members of the Cambridge Seven, and Lottie Moon, through feature films intended for international audiences. I produced a short film about these missionaries titled Love in China.
The third time God called me was in October 2025, following many years of work on my movie, Flying Man, about Eric Liddell. I spent three years developing the project, preparing a treatment and recruiting some Hollywood professionals to help with the writing. By 2015, after numerous revisions, we finally had a viable screenplay. But turning the screenplay into a finished film was not easy. We faced financial challenges and production obstacles, and by 2018, the project stalled. Then, the pandemic brought another major interruption. This led me to a spiritual crisis. I experienced a very dark period of self-doubt. I began to question God. Hadn’t we tried our best? If you don’t need to use me, what am I supposed to do? I struggled with depression and discouragement for several years and even withdrew from many ministry opportunities. I felt powerless.
My wife, pastors, and friends continued to support and encourage me in this difficult time. Eventually, I started exercising again, and God used it to lift me out of that season of discouragement.
Then, in October 2025, I was invited to speak at a small Chinese church in California. When I accepted the invitation, I asked church members to invite non-Christians to attend. Before the service, I prayed, “Lord, give me one sign that you haven’t forgotten me and that you want to continue this ministry of Love in China. Let one nonbeliever accept Jesus.” My sermon text was: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13, NIV). I told the story of Eric Liddell and how his life had demonstrated this verse. During the invitation at the end of the service, twelve nonbelievers came forward to receive Christ. I was shocked! Through this, God confirmed to me that the story of Eric Liddell’s life and ministry still had a purpose.
Why do you have a particular interest in Eric Liddell?
Liddell is well known for refusing to run the 100-meter race at the 1924 Olympics because the qualifying heat was scheduled on a Sunday. This story was made famous in the movie Chariots of Fire. Less known is that after the Olympics, he returned to China, where he was born to missionary parents, and served as a missionary and teacher. During World War II, the Japanese interned him and other foreigners in an internment camp. He died there in 1945. In my opinion, the latter part of Liddell’s life deserves wider attention. This is the story of his life and service in China, both before World War II and during his time in the internment camp. I believe his life is an example of sacrificial love that can speak across cultures and generations.
Tell us about your movie, Flying Man.
From the beginning, my vision has been to make Flying Man for audiences beyond the church. Hollywood filmmakers including Bill Badalato, John Terlesky, and Susan Zwerman have worked with me on the project over the years. Even when the production faced serious setbacks, they continued to support the vision.
After many years of setbacks and pauses, I have restarted Flying Man, but with a different approach. Instead of producing it through the traditional movie-production model, I’m exploring new technologies, including AI-assisted filmmaking. This could substantially reduce production costs. My goal, however, remains the same: to release the movie internationally sometime in 2028. I also hope to reach audiences in China through a new distribution method.
This movie is not just the story of a man. It is the story of God’s love, not just for China, but for the whole world. I also hope it will encourage Christians everywhere to participate in the Great Commission. After 18 years, I still want to use this movie to preach the gospel and to tell the world of God’s love.
Although I am not an ordained pastor, God has given me more than 300 opportunities during the past decade to preach the gospel in churches in the US, China, and Europe. I have had the honor to tell the true story of Eric Liddell more than 80 times. During the altar calls, more than 1,000 nonbelievers have come forward to accept Jesus, and more than 10,000 believers have recommitted to following in Eric’s footsteps. This has encouraged me to continue the work God called me to.
To learn more about Love in China Communications, visit loveinchina.org. You can also watch the short film Love in China or learn more about Flying Man and its production company, Flying Man LLC, at flyingmanfilm.com.
