"I'm honored. This is a recognition of my work and creation personally, and moreover, it demonstrates the big influence of films which can be seen as the visiting card of a country," the world famous director told Xinhua on Sunday.

Zhang Yimou is one of China's leading directors in the movie industry. His films, which include Raise the Red Lantern, House of Flying Daggers, and The Great Wall, have won prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival, and six of his films have been nominated for Academy Awards, according to an introduction posted on the Boston University's website.

More recently, Zhang directed the Beijing portion of the handover ceremony at the close of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Other recipients of honorary degrees from the private research university, founded in 1839, include U.S. civil rights icon John Lewis and U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony S. Fauci.