HISTORICAL MOVIES: CHINA
II.2. CHINA (UNIFICATION OF CHINA). Back to Chapter II Back to Contents
western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC)
eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC)
Warring States period (475-221 BC)
Muk gong (A Battle of Wits) (2006) -- film set amid the Warring States period
Qin Dynasty (221- 207 BC)
Jing ke ci qin wang (The Emperor and the Assassin) (1998) - 221 B.C. unification of China
The Emperor's Shadow (Qin Song) (1999) - unification of China
Hero (2004) -- four assassins plot to assassinate the King of Qin (who has the potential to unify the warring states into a nation)
X Qin yong (A Terra-Cotta Warrior) (1990) – in the Qin Dynasty the emperor builds an army of terra-cotta warriors (currently unavailable)
Han Dynasty (206 BC - 8 AD)
Xi chu bawang (The Great Conqueror's Concubine) (1994) -- Xian Yu and Liu Pang depose Qin Dynasty
Xin Dynasty (9-25 AD)
Han Dynasty continuation/Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220)
Chi bi (aka Red Cliff; Battle of Red Cliff) (2009) -- Prime Minister Cao Cao plans to usurp the Han dynasty throne after he defeats any possible allies of the Han Emperor, but that will prove a difficult task (winter of 208/209)
Three Kingdoms Period (220-280)
Saam gwok dzi gin lung se gap (Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon) (2008) -- story of a fantastic warrior of the Shu Kingdom and his less accomplished friend who keep on fighting only to find themselves going around in circles
Jin Dynasty (265-420)
Sixteen Kingdoms Period, 304-439 -- collection of numerous short-lived sovereign states in China and its neighboring areas
Northern Wei Dynasty, 386-534 (not one of the Sixteen Kingdoms)
X Mulan Joins the Army (1939) – during the Northern Wei dynasty, a young woman disguises herself as a man in order to take her father's place in the army
Mulan (1998) -- the Disney version of the Mulan story
Tang Dynasty (618-665)
Zhou Dynasty (665-705)
Empress Wu Zetian (1939) -- Chinese biopic of the empress who interrupted the Tang Dynasty (618-907) with her behind her husband and sons in the First Zhou Dynasty (665-690) and in her own right in the Second Zhou Dynasty (690–705)
Tian di ying xiong (Warriors of Heaven and Earth) (2003) -- an imperial agent has to escort a caravan carrying an extremely valuable item to the capital, while fighting off the Turks and their allies; action drama;year 700 in the Göktürk Empire which controlled the lucrative Silk Road trade
Tang Dynasty continuation (710-907)
Warriors of Heaven and Earth (2003) -- an imperial agent has to escort a caravan carrying an extremely valuable item to the capital, while fighting off the Turks and their allies
Yōkihi (Princess Yang Kwei-fei) (1955) – a poor young woman is used by General An Lushan in his rebellion plans against Emperor Xuanzong (ruled 712-756)
Five Dynasties and Six Kingdoms Period
Song Dynasty (960-1279)
X Dun-Huang (The Silk Road) (1988) -- in western China in 1026, students are shanghaied by crown prince Li Yuanhao of Xi Xia, who wants to control the Silk Road
X Shi si nu ying hao (The Fourteen Amazons) (1972) – Sung dynasty warriors defending against invading Mongolians (with coverage of Yang Family tragedy)
X
Shi er jin pai (Twelve Gold Medallions)
(1970) -- ditto
960-1125 Song Dynasty (960-1127
Northern Song; 947-1125 Liao Dynasty; 1127-1279 Southern Song) 1125-1234 Jin Dynasty 1234-1279 Transitional Period of
Growing Mongolian Control 1279-1368 Yuan Dynasty (Mongolian
Control)
X Po veleniyu Chingiskhana (By the Will of Genghis Khan) (2009) –
X Genghis Khan - Historical TV Series (10 DVD Set) (2007) --
X Aoki Ōkami: chi hate umi tsukiru (aka Genghis Khan: To the Ends of Earth and Sea; The Blue Wolf: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea) (2007) – a Japanese-Mongolian depiction of the life of Genghis Khan
The Mongol (2007) – Genghis Khan's slow rise to power
X The Fall of Otrar (2002) – Genghis Khan
X Genghis Khan (1998) -- Genghis Khan
X Gibel Otrara (The Fall of Otrar) (1991) – the incident in Otrar that unleashed Genghis Khan and his hordes
X Genghis Khan (1965) -- 1206-1227
The Mongols (1961) -- Jack Palance plays the role of the son of Genghis Khan with Anita Ekberg as his mistress
Conqueror (1956) -- Mongols under Genghis Khan vs. Tartars and others
Marco Polo (2007) -- the adventures, including love ones, of Marco Polo
Marco Polo (1998) -- 1295 with Kublai Khan, opening up the east to trade with the west.
X Marco Polo: Haperek Ha'aharon (Marco Polo: The Missing Chapter) (1996) – Polo returns to Venice in 1295 to find Venice and Genoa at war; he is soon imprisoned by the Genoans and used as a political pawn
X Marco Polo (1982) -- tv mini-series about Marco Polo
X Marco Polo (1962) --
The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) -- 1275, in China
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
IMPERIALISM: CHINA & FRENCH INDO-CHINA
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
Musa (The Warrior) (2001) -- 1375, Korean Koryo warriors band together to help save a Princess of the Ming dynasty from the Mongols of the former Yuan Dynasty
Qing Dynasty (1644-1912)
Dream of the Red Chamber (1962) – semi-autobiographical story of Cao family in the 18th c. during the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty (1644-1912) founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro in Manchuria
X Hong lou meng (A Dream of Red Mansions) (1962) -- musical of the fall of the 18th-century clan ($68)
X Tai Pan (1986) -- the First Opium War (1839-1842)
X Yapian zhanzheng (The Opium War) (1997) – 1839, British opium merchants to be executed in Guangzhou, China; start of the Opium War (currently unavailable)
X Lin zexu (The Opium Wars) (1959) – young man wants to end the trade in opium partly because his relatives are addicts
Qing quo ging cheng (The Empress Dowager) (1975) -- Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty who was the de facto ruler of China, 1861-1908
Tau ming chong (The Warlords) (2007) -- Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864), a large-scale revolt against the Qing Government by the army and civil administration
X Noroshi wa Shanghai ni agaru (aka Signal Fires of Shanghai) (1944) -- Taiping Rebellion
Jia wu feng yun (Naval Battle of 1894) (1962) -- naval battles of the First Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895)
55 Days at Peking (1963) -- 1898-1901 Boxer Rebellion in China
X Da taijian Li Lianying (Li Lianying, the Imperial Eunuch) (1991) -- Li Lianying was a eunuch who held enormous power in the waning days of the Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty
Hong he gu (Red River Valley; aka The Tale of the Sacred Mountain) (1999) -- British incursion into Tibet in 1904
X Xiang xiang gong zhu (aka Princess Fragrance) (1987) -- kung-fu movie about an uprising in Qing dynasty China (17/18th Century AD)
Wo zhe yi bei zi (This Life of Mine) (1950) – Beijing policeman and his family experience a very rough 50 years of life in China, 1900-1950
Republic of China (1911-1949)
The Soong Sisters (1997) -- the lives of three sisters who all married among the highest rank of officials in the Republic of China (1911-1949).
X Guo fu Sun Zhong Shan yu kai guo ying xiong (The Story of Dr. Sun Yat-sen) (1986) – Sun Yat-sen
X Ye Ming (Road to Dawn) (2007) -- segment of the life of revolutionary Sun Yat-sen
The Sand Pebbles (1966) -- 1926 China; an American gun boat, Chiang Kai-shek against the warlords and the move toward civil war
X Yego zovut Sukhe-Bator (His Name Is Sukhe-Bator) (1942) – 1919, commander-in-chief of the Mongolian Peoples' Revolutionary Army defeated China's attempt to retake Mongolia
Gada Meilin (2002) -- 1931 in Inner Mongolia, Mongolian national hero Ga da mei lin who led Mongolians to protect their homeland from the provincial government
X Shanghai Triad (1995 )-- Chinese singer gets mixed up with gangsters in 1930s Shanghai
X The Lover (1992) -- a relationship between a young French teen-ager and wealthy Chinese heir in French Indochina causes problems
X Indochine (1992) -- political upheaval in French Indochina in the 1930s to the defeat of the French in 1954
World War II IN CHINA
The Last Emperor (1987) -- Pu Yi, emperor of China & emergence of Communist China
Rakuyō (The Setting Sun ) (1992) -- Japanese agent in Manchuria gets money for Japanese war effort there by stealing and selling opium
X Dansou no reijin (2008) -- Yoshiko Kawashima (1907-1948) a Manchu princess raised in Japan who became a spy for the Japanese in Manchukuo
Ba dao lou zi (Seven Man Army) (1976) -- seven Chinese soldiers hold off 20,000 Japanese at a battle at the Great Wall of China
Story of a Prostitute (1965) -- love story set during Sino-Japanese War between a soldier and a comfort woman
Hei tai yang 731 (Men Behind the Sun) (1988) -- Japanese atrocities in the prison camp Manchu 731
Hei tai yang: Nan Jing da tu sha (Black Sun: the Nanking Massacre) (1995) -- Nanking Massacre, Dec. 1937
Saam gwok dzi gin lung se gap (The Children of Hung Shi (aka Bitter Sea and Children of the Silk Road)) (2008) -- British journalist in Japan during Nanking Massacre
Nanjing 1937 (aka Don't Cry Nanking) (1995) -- family with Chinese husband and Japanese wife caught in the Nanking Massacre
X The Diary (2007) -- based around the Nanking Massacre
La bei ri ji (John Rabe) (2009) -- a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre
X Hei tai yang 731 (Man Behind the Sun) (1988) -- in Squadron 731 Japanese troops torture and experiment on Chinese and Russian POWs ($70)
Ziri (Purple Sunset) (2001) -- Chinese film about a Russian female soldier ,a Chinese civilian and a Japanese school girl having to work together to get out of a forest, despite their mutual distrust
X Jian qiao ying lie zhuan (Heroes of the Eastern Skies) (1977) – outnumbered Chinese Air Force in increasingly outdated American aircraft fights the Japanese air force ($185)
Dragon Seed (1944) -- Chinese villagers try to adopt a peaceful attitude toward their Japanese conquerors, but not Jade Tan (with Katherine Hepburn)
Hong gao liang (Red Sorghum) (1988) -- a Chinese community rises up against the Japanese after they cut down their sorghum field
Post-War China
Farewell, My Concubine (1993) spanning warlord era to past the cultural revolution in China
To Live (1994) -- a married couple experience the effects of the Communist victory, the Great Leap Forward, and The Cultural Revolution
The Blue Kite (1994) -- horrible effects of the Cultural Revolution
Tian yu: The Sent Down Girl (1998) -- in the Cultural Revolution, teen-aged girl condemned to manual labor in remote area of China
Dr. Bethune (1990) -- life of Canadian Doctor Norman Bethune who became a hero in China during Mao Tse-Tung's rise to power.
Bethune (1977) -- Canadian doctor who aided Mao Tse-Tung's army
Last Emperor (Bertolucci)-- the Qing Dynasty falls to nationalists, and the emperor later becomes a pawn in Japanese-controlled Manchuria.
Not One Less (1999)--a rural Communist confronts post-Deng modernization efforts in contemporary China.
The Story of Qiu Ju (1993) -- woman battles frustrating court system in modern China.
Tibet:
Kundun (1997) -- Dalai Lama resists Chinese take-over of Tibet; 1959
The Korean War
Truman (1995) -- Harry S. Truman, president, 1945-1952
Give 'Em Hell, Harry! (1975) -- President Harry S. Truman
Field of Honor (1986) -- a Dutch mercenary sergeant in 1951 in the Korean War
Hell in Korea (1956) -- U.N. patrol fights Chinese troops
MacArthur (1977) -- leader in Korean War, fired by Truman
Inchon! (1982) -- brilliant but risky move by MacArthur in Korean War turns the tide for awhile
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) -- air war in the Korean War
All the Young Men (1960) -- Korean War
Pork Chop Hill (1959) -- Korean War
Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) -- air war in Korea
Prisoner of War (1954) -- mistreatment of American P.O.W.s during Korean War
Post-War China Back to Chapter XIII Back to Contents
Communist Rule (1949-today)
The Soong Sisters (1997) -- the lives of three sisters who all married among the highest rank of officials in the Republic of China (1911-1949)
Ji jie hao (Assembly) (2007) -- set in 1948 during the Chinese Civil War
X Zui hou de gui zu (The Last Aristocrats) (1989) -- Four Chinese women students in the USA are stranded when the Communists take over Shanghai in 1948
X Xin hai shuang shi (The Battle for the Republic of China) (1981) --
Kaiguo dadian (The Birth of New China) (1989) -- April 1949, People's Liberation Army under Mao Zedong and Zhu De take Nanjing & the KMT regime falls; Chiang Kai-Shek flees to Taiwan October 1949
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst (1957) -- 1949, British warship Amethyst blocked by Communist Chinese shore batteries on the Yangtse River
Wo de fu qin mu qin (The Road Home) (1999) -- country girl & a young teacher fall in love during the 1958 Anti-Rightist Movement reaction against the Hundred Flowers Campaign
China Cry (1990) – a barely Christian upper-class woman survives the anti-religious excesses of communism in China
Ba wang bie ji (Farewell, My Concubine) (1993) -- spanning warlord era to past the Cultural Revolution in China
Huozhe (To Live) (1994) -- a married couple experience the effects of the Communist victory, the Great Leap Forward and The Cultural Revolution
Lan feng zheng (The Blue Kite) (1994) -- horrible effects of the Cultural Revolution
Tian yu (The Sent Down Girl) (1998) -- in the Cultural Revolution, teen-aged girl sent to a remote area of China and abandoned
Xiao cai feng (Balzac and the Little Seamstress) (2002) -- two young men sent for re-education in the Cultural Revolution fall in love with the same mountain woman
X Fu rong zhen (Hibiscus Town) (1986) -- a young woman lives through the Cultural Revolution
X Yangguang Canlan de Rizi (In the Heat of the Sun) (1994) -- young people roam the streets because the Cultural Revolution takes up most of their parents' time
Mei you hang biao de he liu (River Without Buoys) (1984) -- during the Cultural Revolution, timber rafters try to rescue a former District Director from a labor camp
Romance on Lushan Mountain (or Love on Lushan Mountain or A Love Story at Lushan Mountain) (1980) -- the Cultural Revolution makes love very difficult for a young couple
Xiang ri kui (Sunflower) (2005) -- following a family harmed by the Cultural Revolution for thirty years
X Dr. Bethune (1990) -- life of Canadian Doctor Norman Bethune who became a hero in China during Mao Tse-Tung's rise to power.
X Bethune (1977) -- Canadian doctor who aided Mao Tse-Tung's army
Last Emperor 1987) -- the Qing Dynasty falls to nationalists, and the emperor later becomes a pawn in Japanese-controlled Manchuria directed by Bertolucci.
Zhantai (Platform) (2000) -- a performance troupe changes with the changes in the political climate in China
Yi ge dou bu neng shao (Not One Less) (1999)--a rural Communist confronts post-Deng modernization efforts in contemporary China.
Qiu Ju da guan si (The Story of Qiu Ju) (1992) -- woman battles frustrating court system in modern China.
Chinese Box (1997) -- a love story set against the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong
Taiwan:
X Dao cao ren (Strawman) (1987) – farming brothers in trouble during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan
X Po lun tai (Flat Tire) (1999) -- talk of film makers touches on political reality in Taiwan
X Bei qing cheng shi (A City of Sadness) (1989) -- first part of the trilogy about modern Taiwan history; average Taiwanese family during years 1945-1949
X Xi meng ren sheng (In the Hands of a Puppet Master) (1993) -- second part of the trilogy about Taiwan history; Japanese use street puppets for propaganda making it tough for a Chinese puppet master
X Hao nan hao nu (Good Men, Good Women) (1995) -- third part of the trilogy about modern Taiwan; a couple returns to China as part of the anti-Japanese movement & are arrested as communists when they go back to Taiwan ($50)
Tibet:
Seven Years in Tibet (1997) -- mountain-climber befriended by 14 year old Dalai Lama during WWII
Kundun (1997) -- Dalai Lama resists Chinese take-over of Tibet; 1949
Little Buddha (1993) -- search for the next Dalai Lama
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