Cheng Zhi

“	China turned its back on me. It's not my country anymore.	„
	~ Cheng Zhi's most famous quote.

“	You should have stayed hidden like a rat. You could have died an old man.	„
	~ Jack Bauer, while beating Cheng.

Cheng Zhi is one of the main antagonists of the 24 franchise.

Cheng harbors an obsessive grudge against series protagonist Jack Bauer, culminating when he imprisons Jack in China and tortures him constantly for nearly two years. Cheng also kidnapped Jack's love, Audrey Raines, before turning to terrorist activity, and attempted to start World War III on two separate occasions.

He was portrayed by Tzi Ma, who also played Henry "Big Smile" Lee in Sleeping Dogs.

Biography[]

Day 4[]

Cheng first appeared in Season 4 of the series, where he was the Head of Security at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles. After Jack's actions to apprehend a terrorist inside the consulate inadvertently led to the accidental death of the Chinese consul, Cheng became obsessed with avenging his death. It is unclear why this is, possibly because he respected the man as other characters did. However, given Cheng's obvious sociopathy, it is perhaps most likely that he did not want his security failure to reflect badly on him and damage his career ambitions. Cheng relentlessly spent the last hours of the day trying to identify the people who broke into the consulate. Cheng cleverly identified Jack Bauer as the man who led the attack and kidnapped one of Jack's colleagues to confirm his suspicions. Cheng threatened to put him on a cargo ship and take him to a black site in China, where he would spend the rest of his life doing forced labor, with his fate unknown to his country and family. The man ultimately confesses that Jack headed the mission, but it is unclear if Cheng released Jack's colleague or not afterwards. With this proof, Cheng contacted CTU and demanded Jack from President Charles Logan, who agreed. At the end of the season, Jack faked his own death to avoid being taken captive by the Chinese.

Day 5[]

Over the course of Season 5, Cheng gradually learned that Jack was still alive. It was later confirmed in Season 6 that Phillip and Graem Bauer "handed him over" suggesting that Phillip personally contacted Cheng with the knowledge that Jack was not only still alive, but his location as well. Presumably Cheng was contacted much earlier in the day with this information, however it is also possible that he was already in the country, as a Russian treaty was being signed and Cheng was very interested in Russian affairs. At the end of Day 5, he had captured Jack Bauer after posing as secret service and tortured him. When Jack Bauer asked Cheng to kill him, he decided not to, as he would be too valuable. Cheng then took him to China and tortured him for two years. However, Jack never said a word despite Cheng relentlessly torturing him. In the Season 6 prequel, Cheng's sadism is evident when even the men torturing Jack insist that they will kill him if they continue, advice Cheng ignores.

Day 6[]

At the beginning of Season 6, Cheng agrees to return Jack to the United States. The country had been plagued by Islamic terrorism, and President Wayne Palmer was informed that the attacks would not stop until the terrorists killed Jack as revenge. Cheng claims to Bill Buchanan that Jack never said a word in his two years of captivity. Despite being physically and mentally weak from two years of constant torture at Cheng's hands, Jack manages to escape after realizing that they were tricked. Over the course of the day, Jack helps to stop the terrorists, led by Abu Fayed, from detonating multiple suitcase nukes on American soil. Jack also learns that his girlfriend, Audrey Raines, figured out he had been taken by the Chinese and went to China looking for him, only to be apparently killed in a car accident. Enraged, Jack swore that he would avenge Audrey's death by killing Cheng. Unbeknownst to Jack, the day's problems were just beginning, as Cheng never returned to China and actually remained in the United States over the course of the day. Cheng called Jack and informed him that he had Audrey in his custody, having faked her death and tortured her in China for information as well. Cheng promised that he would kill her unless Jack turns over a critical piece of circuitry from one of the suitcase nukes, a subcircuit board that would enable the Chinese to defeat Russian military defenses. Cheng saw this as a great opportunity to further China's dominance on the global stage, as well as to advance his own career in the Chinese government. Jack managed to retrieve the component and turned it over to Cheng in exchange for Audrey's freedom. However, unwilling to let Cheng start World War 3, Jack was prepared to detonate a hidden bomb, thus destroying the component and killing both himself and Cheng. The operation is sabotaged, however, and Cheng escapes with the component. However, the component is damaged. In order to return it to working order, Cheng hires Jack's estranged father, Philip, to fix it. Cheng would have known that Phillip's company, BXJ Technologies, was hired to dismantle the nukes in the first place, and would have both the knowledge to fix it, as well as the motivations, because Phillip himself was wanted by the authorities for allowing the suitcase bombs to fall into terrorist hands. In exchange for the repaired component, Philip demands residency in China and Cheng to deliver his grandson, Josh. Since he killed Graem earlier that day, Philip wants to raise Josh as his protégé, so his company will exist after his death. Cheng sends his men to CTU where several people are killed and Josh is taken captive. Jack follows Cheng to one of his father's decommissioned oil rigs where a Chinese submarine is scheduled to pick them up and retrieve the component. Before Cheng can take Philip and the component to China, Jack arrives, arrests Cheng and saves Josh. Philip is mortally wounded after being shot, and he chooses to remain on the oil rig when it is bombed by fighter jets, thus destroying the component and averting a world war. Cheng is returned to CTU custody, but angrily declares that his country will not abandon him like the United States did to Bauer. However, Cheng was wrong. The Chinese government did not excuse Cheng for his activities, resulting in Cheng hating his country. Presumably enraged at Jack for his capture, Cheng lied to the CTU authorities and claimed Jack gave the Chinese classified information, some of which led to the death of an American spy. This contradicted his earlier statement about Jack not speaking a word while in China. Jack was detained and questioned over this in the Season 6 debrief, where he vehemently denied that he ever talked and was soon released. Jack then left the country and traveled the world in search of inner peace. Cheng was later returned to China and incarcerated.

Day 9[]

As of Season 9 (Live Another Day) Cheng Zhi has been declared dead by the Chinese government. However, Cheng actually faked his death to escape from prison. Cheng resorts to terrorist activity and begins planning a way to destroy both China and the United States as revenge for what happened to him. He hires Adrian Cross to build an override device that can take control of American military equipment, which he intended to use to attack Chinese vessels and start World War 3, destroying both countries in the process. However, one of Cross's men sold the device to terrorist Margot Al-Harazi, and when Cross retrieved it, he attempted to use it for his own political activities. Cheng, enraged, killed Cross and as all his men. He fraudulently uses the override device to order the USS Massachusetts to sink a Chinese aircraft carrier called the Shenyang, and kidnaps Chloe O'Brian, who eventually escapes. Chloe left a cellphone behind with a voice recording. Jack Bauer recognized the voice immediately as Cheng, saying he would never forget it. Cheng had also conspired with Anatol Stolnavich, a Russian spy who wanted to arrest Jack for what he did to the Russians in Season 8. Near the end of the season, Jack and his friend Belcheck sneak through Cheng's ship and takes out several of Cheng's men. However, Cheng has a sniper pinned down on Audrey Boudreau, and although Kate Morgan succeeded in killing the sniper, a backup gunman guns down Audrey, who dies in Kate's arms.

When Jack hears about this, he breaks down and nearly commits suicide. However, this caused Jack to be enraged and fulfill Audrey's last wish (which the last thing she told him to do was to get rid of Cheng once & for all), who ruthlessly kills the remainder of Cheng's men in a shootout before finding and engaging Cheng in a final battle. The two fight briefly and brutally until Jack gains the advantage by breaking Cheng's arm and beating him senseless while angrily tells him that he should have stayed hidden like a rat and he could have died an old man before using Cheng's face and voice to confirm for the Chinese government officials that Cheng is alive and in Jack's captivity. Then, a furious Jack stares at him for a moment before declaring "This is for Audrey, you son of a bitch.", and finally beheading Cheng with a katana to avenge her.

Trivia[]

"Cheng" is a surname. In Chinese, the surname is said first, therefore, his first name is "Zhi". This explains why he is frequently called "Mr. Cheng" when he is first introduced in Season 4.
In his first appearance, Cheng calls himself "Cheng Gow" (程高 in Chinese) on a phone call with Michelle Dessler. However, in every appearance afterwards, he is called "Cheng Zhi". While some have speculated that his full name is "Cheng Zhi Gow", this is unlikely. Chinese people do not generally have middle names. It is most probable that "Cheng Gow" was an alias. Otherwise, this was a retcon.
Cheng is a major antagonist in season 4 and 5, one of two secondary antagonists of season 6 (alongside Abu Fayed), and the main antagonist of the miniseries 24: Live Another Day.
Cheng is generally considered Jack Bauer's archenemy, because he relentlessly pursued revenge on Jack, forced him to fake his own death, tortured him in China for almost two years, and then killed Audrey Raines. The only other person to be such a personal enemy to Jack was Nina Myers, who killed Jack's wife, Teri. As a result, Cheng and Nina are the two secondary antagonists of 24. They do not mastermind multiple terrorist plots like Charles Logan and Phillip Bauer, but they by far do the most damage to Jack personally.

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