Mainland China has produced a number of TV series on the Qing Dynasty, with Emperor Qianlong (乾隆皇帝) as the favorite regime. The most memorable series is not from Mainland but from Taiwan, with its massively popular (还珠格格) which my family would watch every night. Or at least in my memory I would watch with my parents. In graduate school, I found out that it was such a big hit in Southeast Asia. In fact, in one Mainland drama series 翻译官(Les Interprètes), 还珠格格 was used for interpretation practice. At the onset of the lockdown, I came to know that one of my sisters has actually been watching 延禧攻略 (The Story of Yanxi Palace) which I do not watch. She first followed the dubbed version on ABS-CBN, and since the lockdown, have turned to online streaming to continue watching the series. After a quick Google search on 延禧攻略 and discovering it's set during Qianlong's rule, I pointed out to her that she might want revisit 还珠格格 as both figure the same emperor. I also gave her a brief history lecture on the 清 (Qing Dynasty). These days she alternates between the two, which gives a good balance as one is dark and serious, while the other is a light comedy.
The movie is set in the days of Emperor Qianlong when anti-Qing sentiments ran high, especially because of corrupt officials. Qianlong roams outside the palace to investigate the embezzlement of funds by an appointee magistrate named 李满仓 (Li Mancang). The funds are supposed to fix the river bank and to provide for the people as disaster relief. In those days, the popular slogan amongst the people is 反清复明 (Counter the Qing, Revive the Ming). The Ming Dynasty was the predecessor of the Qing and to cut a long story short, the Han people were not happy with barbarian rule. Anyone with basic knowledge of Chinese philosophy knows how strong sino-centrism is and how non-Chinese, or to be more specific non-Han, are thought of as barbarians. So anyway, there were also Japanese pirates already in Chinese society back then who seek to sow discord in order to allow Japanese forces to take control of China. These 倭寇 (wako pirates, literally "dwarf pirates") connive with local officials, and at least in the movie, with Li Mancang.
Now our main character 薛树英 (Xue Shuying) has many friends who are good at fighting. One of these is the cheerful thief 卓飞 (Zhuo Fei), also a ninja who spies on the Japanese and reports to our hero. An old brother, the 江香主 is anti-Qing and heads the 天地会 (Heaven Earth Association) which seeks to drive away the Manchus. All he wants is to kill the emperor so he can go back to live with his wife and daughter peacefully. Jiang is ready to fight his friend for this mission but changes his mind eventually when Xue tells him the people will suffer more and chaos will ensue if the emperor is killed. That, plus when the Japanese killed his wife. Another is an old time friend 萧易明 (Xiao Yiming) whose wife died when he accidentally shoved her rather too hard while sparring with our hero. He blames his wife's death on Xue but in the end arrives in time to fight the Japanese big boss. There is also another swordsman whose entire family was killed by an imperial edict for writing a poem, thus all he wants is to avenge his family and kill the emperor. Eventually he becomes an ally when he learns that the imperial edict was actually forged and the emperor has already taken care of those involved in the forgery.
The movie has many good action scenes but unfortunately, the story is too cliché, with the emperor running for his life and when almost cornered, heroes will turn up and sacrifice their lives to allow the emperor to flee. There is one burning question the whole time I was watching this film and that is, WHY ON EARTH DOES A PRINCESS WHO CANNOT FIGHT JOURNEY WITH HER FATHER??? A fat but loyal eunuch is also almost always a must in these types of movies so that's pardonable. But even when left to their own devices, it is the emperor who fights against ninja assassins. All throughout the movie, the princess' role is just to worry about Xue that those who watch this film understand why 春子 (Chunzi, the doctors's daughter) smiles rather too sweetly at the general who led the reinforcement at the end. It might be implied that the princess and Xue have something going on between them although at the start, it would seem that it will be Xue and Chunzi. To think Chunzi's father died for the emperor by pretending to be him so that the assassins will chase him instead of the real emperor. Also, I am curious as to what happened to the Lady Boss owner of the restaurant. She is revealed to be such an awesome fighter who single-handedly dealt with the assassins while the royal company escape her restaurant, but her demise is implied. Chunzi herself is a courageous woman who offers to go out and bring the emperor's seal to the general for reinforcement, but which came late so the heroes mentioned earlier have mostly been killed already except for the cheerful thief whom I thought would be killed eventually as is common but who turns out to have survived and is bestowed the title of marquis afterwards. Awesome! I just love Robin Hood types because they are a rarity in this world full of sick people who are rude to the poor and the powerless yet treat those with money and influence very well. So disgusting.
Another salient characteristic of this movie which is also very common in Chinese films is its strong anti-Japanese sentiments. The Japanese are portrayed as brutal and bloodthirsty; they really need to slash Chinese people multiple times even though it is clear that the person is dead. They do not think twice about killing innocent people for their goals to destroy a country. And they are made to be foils to the Chinese (i.e. Xue) who fights for morality and justice. Japanese animé always emphasize that being good in the art of fighting is useless if it is employed for random violence. But in Chinese movies, this included, they are made to look evil, mayhaps as an extra effort to counter Japan's soft power. I wonder though why Japanese actors agree to be part of these kinds of movies, but I also am glad that they become part of Chinese film industry especially in atonement and acknowledgement of the Japanese nation's war crimes during World War 2. I hope the US and other Westerners produce films that speak truthfully of how they subjugated other peoples and created hell in this world.
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