House of flying daggers and Hero were directed by Zhang Yimou, one of the 'Fifth' generation of Chinese directors. He is a former cinematographer, which shows in the amazing visual textures in his fims. He did the cinematography for another of that new generation of Chinese fimmakers, Chen Kaige. Then he struck out on his own in the late eighties and directed some amazing films.
I would strongly recommend Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, To Live and The Road Home, all Zhang Yimou films. Red Sorghum was the first major role of the actress Gong Li, and she was like his muse, appearing in many subsequent films. Later on he worked with Zhang Ziyi in the recent blockbusters.
His films share an amzing sense of colour, composition, tragic and historical themes and just pure, visceral storytelling.
Go and watch them. You will be blown away.