1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 602 The Little Emperor

Tense music accompanies shots interwoven with red and yellow hues.

Years later, Feng Xiaogang made a movie called "Big Shot's Funeral," which was based on the story of Bernardo Bertolucci, the actor who starred in "The Last Emperor."

In the movie "Big Shot's Funeral," there was a line that went something like this:
"The imperial palaces in China have two colors: red and yellow."

"Red walls, golden tiles."

"Red represents blood, and yellow represents money."

"Blood and money—that's the Eastern perspective on power."

"Who can display power like this? Only the emperor dares to do so."

Therefore, the appearance of red and yellow immediately conveyed the atmosphere of the dynasty.

Having worked in the film and television industry for so many years, Feng Xiaogang knows a little bit about everything. Upon seeing the shot, he immediately felt that it was beautifully shot and that the cinematographer was a true genius.

The year 1908, as depicted on the screen, was certainly a special year for this country, with a series of historical events occurring. The most significant was the sudden and mysterious death of the 38-year-old Emperor Guangxu, followed by the passing of the 73-year-old Empress Dowager Cixi just one day later.

The emperor, in the prime of his life, passed away the day before the old empress dowager.

Such a coincidence aroused speculation among people at the time.

Since then, some people have suspected that Emperor Guangxu may not have died a natural death.

It wasn't until 2008, when modern technology was used to analyze a strand of hair remaining from Emperor Guangxu's body, that it was confirmed that he had indeed died from arsenic poisoning.

Although there is no solid evidence to prove who the murderer is, judging from the motive, most people probably already have a guess as to who the murderer is.

In the same year, Puyi, who was not yet three years old, became the new emperor of the Qing Empire. Empress Longyu, the wife of Emperor Guangxu, became the Empress Dowager, and Puyi's biological father, Zaifeng, became the Prince Regent.

At this point, they certainly couldn't have foreseen that the empire only had three years left to live.

Especially the young Puyi.

At this point, they probably still couldn't understand what an emperor really was.

The members of the last ruling class of the Qing Dynasty were completely unprepared and were forced into their positions without any understanding of what was happening.
But the foreigners in the movie theater clearly didn't understand any of this; they were watching with great interest another country, or rather another dynasty, that was so different from their own.

"By the decree of Empress Dowager Cixi, who grants you peace, health, prosperity, longevity, and respect, Aisin-Gioro Puyi, son of Prince Regent Zaifeng, shall be immediately sent to the Forbidden City to reside and be educated within the palace, awaiting His Majesty's decision. This is the imperial decree!"

The cavalry captain, clad in armor, recited the words with a powerful voice.

Of course, it's in English.

Feng Xiaogang, with his sharp eyes, immediately recognized Chen Aige. This guy often mingled in various circles in Beijing, and wherever he went, people recognized him and knew that he was the son of the famous director Chen Huai'ai.

"Ha, this kid's got some nerve."

Feng Xiaogang, of course, did not know that when filming this scene, because the lines were long and contained many obscure words, Chen Aige had just had drinks with Bertolucci the night before and memorized the lines overnight, requiring countless takes before it was finally approved.

What are they acting out?

"I don't know, a group of people came to pick up a child?"

"Where should we send him?"

Meanwhile, the foreigners in the movie theater were completely confused and didn't quite understand what was happening.

I just thought the scene was very grand.

people, people, people
The camera focuses on Chinese faces dressed in various glamorous costumes.

But it's not messy at all.

Sometimes, when there are too many people, the camera work can be annoying, but "The Last Emperor" is very comfortable to watch. With the right background music, it is very immersive and easy to get lost in the story.

As the plot unfolds, Puyi is brought into the palace, and every shot is a long shot, depicting a grand scene.

Vermilion palace gates, camels outside the gates, prisoners in shackles, a magnificent palace, monks sitting on the ground.
Puyi entered Empress Dowager Cixi's palace.

The palace was crowded with officials, and a somber atmosphere permeated the air.

Feng Xiaogang suddenly remembered something.

He had heard from people at Haima that the scene of Puyi meeting Cixi, the scene of Cixi's death, was originally filmed in the largest studio at Beijing Film Studio.

Director Bei added a bunch of dragon pillars and a bunch of arhats in various shapes and sizes to highlight the extraordinary nature of the palace where Empress Dowager Cixi lived, creating a very magical and Western-style exotic perspective.

Lu Yan, who plays Empress Dowager Cixi, said after watching it, "Brother, what's going on? Empress Dowager Cixi's taste was not this low. How could she die in such a place?"
Then Bertolucci said impatiently, "Lisa, you are just an actress, I am the director."

Lu Yan is Mei Lanfang's adopted daughter. She later became an actress in the United States and is a well-known Chinese-American actress. She is a lifetime member of the Academy Awards. She played Empress Dowager Cixi in Li Hanxiang's "The Beauty and the City" and "The Weeping Blood of Yingtai". In 93, she appeared in Wayne Wang's "The Joy Luck Club". She later gave Zhang Ziyi pointers on how to act in "Mei Lanfang" and taught Tang Wei how to eat goose feet in "Lust, Caution".
As a result, Bertolucci's retort left him speechless.

Then, just as everyone was frowning and preparing to give in to Bertolucci's morbid curiosity, Jiang Xian stepped forward.

He wasn't even as polite to Lu Yan; he immediately launched into a tirade against Bertolucci.

In the end, Bertolucci actually complied and removed the dragon pillars and set decorations!

Zhu Jiajin, a renowned cultural relics expert and researcher at the Palace Museum, even wrote an article in Wenhui Daily about this incident. He said that when he visited the set, he was also shocked by the set design. He said that it was thanks to Jiang Xian that this destructive scene was prevented. He said that from the perspective of an expert and scholar, he highly agreed with Jiang Xian's point of view, feeling that this scene was too surreal. Movies are creative works, but they cannot be too outrageous. Some sets are too exaggerated and simply incomprehensible.

Of course, the magical scenes were removed, but this scene in the footage is still incredibly impactful.

"My God, this woman's clothes are so gorgeous!" the foreigners exclaimed.

The dress that Empress Dowager Cixi was wearing was truly eye-catching.

This costume weighs as much as 50 pounds, and all the embroidery was sculpted from wax, then cast in aluminum, and finally plated with gold.

In addition, the way Empress Dowager Cixi's hair was styled in a bun also sparked discussion among foreigners.

"My God, how did she get her hair like that?"

"Doesn't her head get tired?"

"This is so gorgeous! Their rulers really understand art; everything is so exquisite."

Is there a turtle lying in that big pot?

Even if the foreigners didn't quite understand, they still watched with great interest.

Let alone foreigners, even Feng Xiaogang was deeply shocked by these scenes of Empress Dowager Cixi.

Of course, this shock didn't come easily; it's said that Lu Yan was so exhausted after filming this scene that she was hospitalized.

In the scene, Empress Dowager Cixi spoke her lines for a while before dying. A eunuch with a sorrowful expression came up, stuffed a luminous pearl into her mouth, and then covered her face with a white veil.

The young Puyi stared blankly, his expression mirroring that of the audience watching on the screen.

Well, this young Puyi, or rather, the actor who played the young Puyi, was actually a four or five-year-old child named Richard Wu. He was a Chinese-American actor who didn't become an actor after growing up and instead worked in the health and medical industry.

This young actor was very difficult to deal with because he was so young. Every time Bertolucci asked him to do something, he would refuse to do it.

In order to "lure" him into acting, director Bay had to keep using the viewfinder around his neck to please him.

Every time we finished filming, we'd let him play with that.

I heard that during the enthronement ceremony footage, the child was completely uncooperative, which gave director Bei a real headache. In the end, they had to call his mother over and have her stand next to the Steadicam to coax him step by step until the enthronement ceremony was finally filmed.

The audience in front of the screen, of course, had no idea; they were too busy watching the scene of Puyi's ascension to the throne.

As the eunuchs and officials in the palace solemnly recited their words, the three-year-old Puyi, sitting on the throne, thought it was too long and stood on the throne, fluttering his sleeves like a moth, which gave the officials a headache.
This is the most challenging scene in the entire film. This is the biggest scene in the entire film.

Even Bertolucci himself needed alcohol to bolster his courage.

We prepared for this play for a long time and spent a lot of money.

They even used the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

This is also the only film shot taken in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

It is said that the filming took place in October when the autumn weather was clear and crisp. There were many taxis parked outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, all of them carrying actors. There were also 2000 soldiers who came to the scene to learn how to kowtow from the teachers of the Central Academy of Drama, and they rehearsed in group after group.

And the scene that was presented was truly breathtaking.

In front of the screen, a group of foreigners watched as the officials knelt neatly outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, kowtowing in unison at the eunuch's command, while the camera followed the steps of the young Puyi.

The audience had initially thought the kneeling of the officials in front of them was quite shocking.

When the camera panned outwards, it revealed an even denser mass of people dressed in different colors—black, yellow, red, and blue—forming square formations as they knelt and kowtowed.

"It's amazing!"

"This is what a dynasty should be like. This movie is really well made."

How many times will they have to kneel down?

Ironically, despite the grand occasion, the young Puyi showed no respect.

Hearing the sound of crickets, he took small, careful steps, weaving through the kneeling officials, and strolled along the direction of the sound. Finally, he obtained a box of crickets from a kneeling official. This scene not only created tension in the shot but also helped to develop the character's personality.

"Dina, I think this movie is very well made, what do you think?"

"The quality is too high, my God. I didn't have high hopes. I just came to take a look out of boredom, but I didn't expect it to be so wonderful."

"It really attracts me."

"Stop arguing, just watch."

The audience thoroughly enjoyed the film, and although there were still many things they didn't understand, it didn't prevent them from grasping the general content.

Next, the camera cuts back to the prisoner-of-war camp, which has turned gray again.

Puyi, who attempted suicide, was saved and told that he would soon be tried. The scene then quickly switched back to a red and yellow color scheme, and the music became calm. Little Puyi sat on a "toilet" with a bunch of kneeling eunuchs serving him, having a great time.

The audience thoroughly enjoyed it.

A group of adult servants were serving a three-year-old child, who happened to be the ruler of the country. The scene was quite comical.

The audience watched with great focus.

"My God, why are they smelling his poop?"

"Perhaps they wanted to use this to test whether he was in good health?"

"Me, Defa?!"

"He is the emperor."

The film's pace is relatively slow; the version shown in theaters is over three hours long.

However, the audience did not get tired of watching; on the contrary, they enjoyed it very much and were very curious about the world in the movie. In addition, the movie tells two stories in an interwoven timeline, which makes it more and more interesting and better made the more you watch it.

The audience envied the three-year-old emperor, who could do whatever he wanted from the age of three, but they soon discovered that his role as emperor was somewhat stifling.

My biological mother? I forbid you to see her!

Leaving the palace? Impossible!

Eat? Test for poison first!

Well, in short, this is like the most luxurious "kindergarten isolation zone" in history.

Even the young emperor's only source of emotional support, his wet nurse, was suddenly dragged out of the palace gates.

Watching Puyi stumble and run after the sedan chair, like a giant baby whose milk bottle had been taken away, the audience felt a mix of emotions, unable to describe it.

Soon, the young emperor grew up to be a teenager, and also to be rebellious.

The young Puyi met a British man, Reginald Johnston, a teacher.

This foreign godfather opened the door to a new world for him:
Nearsighted? Wear glasses!
The old prince was so angry that he clutched his chest and cried out, "Our ancestors never made such a rule!"

Think braids are old-fashioned? Cut them off!
With a snap, the three-hundred-year-old "fashion shackles" fell to the ground.

Want to go for a drive? Try riding a bicycle!

The eunuchs were so frightened that they clutched their legs and cried out, "Your Majesty, you mustn't fall!"

Puyi, who grew up to be a "shamate" (a subculture characterized by flamboyant and outlandish fashion), started speeding around the palace with his trendy hairstyle.

However, the world outside the palace was already engulfed in war, and news of warlord conflicts spread. Puyi was filled with enthusiasm and wanted to reform the government, but the ministers outwardly kowtowed and agreed, while secretly continuing to embezzle. The young emperor sadly realized the truth.

He sees himself as the emperor.

But it's actually just a doll.

Soon, he grew up and it was time for him to get married.

On his wedding night, he looked at the room decorated in bright red and at his beautiful bride, Wanrong.
Feng Xiaogang was also amazed when he saw Wanrong.

nice!
gorgeous!

She truly deserves the title of Queen of Women; the injustice she evokes in the hearts of men across the country is deeply regrettable.

Oh well, it's a pity that Jiang Xian got the better deal.

Puyi, after a long pause, could only manage a witty remark:

"Like a melted red candle."

Then, this guy ran off to find Johnston to talk about his life ideals.

Feng Xiaogang was amused by what he saw.

This is probably the only emperor in Chinese history to stand up his empress on their wedding night.

Then Feng Yuxiang kicked open the palace gate with a loud bang.

"You should move!"

Puyi, carrying his luggage, was "invited" out of the Forbidden City, looking as dejected as a tenant who couldn't pay his rent and was being evicted.

As if things weren't bad enough, a few years later, Sun Dianying bombed the Eastern Tombs, and the luminous pearl from the opening scene was pried out and inlaid on someone's shoe.

Puyi was so angry that he looked up to the sky and roared, then turned around and became another puppet.

Then something even more dramatic happened.

While Wanrong was still smoking opium after falling out of favor, her concubine Wenxiu did something that caused a nationwide uproar.
(End of this chapter)