Scenes 31 to 40

Leading CCP generals are sitting around a table. One of the generals says that the soldiers are reluctant to fight against the GMD. On the one hand they would like to fight, on the other they fear that their military success could threaten Mao’s safety in Chongqing. Deng Xiaoping stands up and states that it is just the other way round: the stronger the soldiers fight, the safer Mao would be, because Jiang would never dare to touch Mao if he controls powerful troops.

Mao Zedong has come to visit Song Qingling, the widow of Sun Yat-sen, in her residence. He quotes Sun Yat-sen’s statement that one cannot resist the trend of the whole world; whoever follows it will rise, whoever opposes it, will perish (世界潮流,浩浩荡荡,顺之者昌,逆之者亡). The trend of the world now is peace, adds Song Qingling, but Jiang Jieshi is working against it. She warns Mao to be careful about Jiang since she herself [though being Jiang’s sister-in-law] had been threatened by him for her political opinion. Mao, while talking about the way to achieve peace through negotiations with Jiang, stands in front of the portrait of Sun Yat-sen. [With his face to the TV audience, this suggests that the legacy of Sun Yat-sen has in fact passed unto Mao as his revolutionary and national successor.] Mao Zedong invites Song Qingling to Yan’an to see the progress which has been achieved in the areas administered by the Communists. She thanks him and expresses her sympathies. At the end of the scene, outside of Song Qingling’s residence doves fly up into the sky, symbolising the hope for peace in all of China.

The editor of the communist-friendly daily „Dagong Ribao“, Wang Yunsheng (王芸生), and four men of his staff, are chatting with Mao Zedong. Editor Wang mentions his hope that Chairman Mao will succeed in creating a third National front with the GMD. When the reporter of the “Zhongyang Ribao”, Miss Tong, arrives, Mao’s guests take their leave. Mao tells Miss Tong, that the criticism of the Communists which she made in her recent article, is not justified. When Miss Tong asks why regions like Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Jiangsu and Shandong are in the Communists’ hands instead of in the hands of the Nationalist Government, Mao clarifies that these regions were not taken away from the government but from the hands of the Japanese. Even though the Nationalist army was four times stronger than the Communist army and had also the military and financial help of the US, it was the Communist army which conquered back all these parts of China. These arguments seem to have an effect on Miss Tong. She is also flattered by Chairman Mao’s generosity after she criticised him so harshly. Mao then tells her about his point of view regarding the role of the press. It should function like a public ear, hearing the needs and the problems of the populace. When a secretary of Mao enters and tells him that US ambassador Hurley has arrived, Miss Tong takes her leave. [The conversation between Mao and Hurley is not shown in the movie but this small scene indicates that the CCP and the US are in contact.]

Jiang Jieshi dictates three baselines to his negotiators. With this, he wants to counter the eight demands of the CCP: 1. No changes in the government outside from the existing structures. (This means, that the GMD – which controls the national government – will go on to govern). 2. No splitting of territory (i.e. no Communist enclaves). 3. A united Chinese military under government command. Zhang Zhizhong remarks that these three points do not show much goodwill from the GMD side. Jiang, though, at once criticises him to act like an agent of the Communists. [After the GMD government would flee to Taiwan, Zhang would be one of the few GMD leaders to stay on in the PRC]. Thus it becomes clear that Jiang is not willing to make compromises. He says to his negotiators that they should not move one step back from these baselines.

Guests in uniform, suits and evening robes enter the festival hall. The Soviet ambassador Petrov (彼得罗夫) arrives and greets his translator in Russian. Then he enters the hall, and the Generalissimo and his wife, Song Meiling, come to meet the Soviet ambassador. Jiang remarks to the ambassador, that he considers him a “friend” of himself and of Mao Zedong at the same time, to which Petrov quickly responds that he is a friend of all Chinese! This diplomatic answer earns him applause. Song Meiling then tells Petrov that they invited him to watch a Beijing Opera play: „Mu Guiying assumes leadership“ [《穆桂英挂帅》, a play about a female general who fought fo r the Song dynasty against the Liao armies of the North]. The soviet ambassador, apparently well versed in Chinese opera, says his favourite play is „Farewell my concubine“ with the tragic hero Xiang Yu. The Generalissimo tells him that even though Xiang Yu [late 3rd century B.C.] was a great Chinese warrior, he nevertheless could not defeat Liu Bang [the prospective founder of the Han dynasty]. But why, the ambassador asks further, did Xiang Yu commit suicide? And he adds with regard to Mao Zedong and Jiang Jieshi, that Xiang Yu seems to not have been very wise because he only relied on the techniques of warfare, instead of trying also the techniques of negotiation. Then Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and others enter the hall. Mao joins the conversation between the ambassador, Jiang and Song Meiling on Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. In Mao’s view, Xiang Yu in fact was as great a hero as Liu Bang since he dared to challenge the latter! Jiang Jieshi and the interpreter are startled by this provocative and self-confidant answer.

The Communist negotiators (Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei) and GMD negotiators ( Zhang Qun, Wang Shijie, Shao Lizi and Zhang Zhizhong) continue their talks. The main issues are the unification of the army and the questions of the “liberated areas” of the Communists. The GMD negotiators (following Jiang’s baseline) want the CCP to give up their “liberated areas” as states in a state, and their control over their army, arguing that the country has to be unified. This of course is not acceptable to Zhou and Wang who stress that one has to start from the facts and that the Communists have sacrificed for winning back these territories from the Japanese. And their troops are troops “of the people” as well. Shao Lizi tries to bully them, stating that even if the Communist troops were more numerous than the government troops, they could never win against the government (which in fact means the GMD troops). Zhou Enlai laughs at this crude attempt to frighten them. He tells the GMD officials that the times have changed since the Communist Army was first established near Jinggang Mountain. Now the Communist troops could easily match the GMD troops. Furthermore, the GMD is playing a double-faced game, he asserts, since they continue to put military pressure on the CCP, although they are negotiating.

One sees government troops on a hilly terrain. In the background there are sounds of bombing, shooting and of military vehicle motors. The GMD general of the 19th army, General Shi Zebo (史泽波), arrives with an army jeep. He is accompanied by a second army officer; two others come over to him to report about the situation. The GMD is mobilising against the CCP, assuming that this would weaken the Communists’ position at the negotiation table.

Deng Xiaoping and Liu Bocheng are preparing their officers to be ready to fight against the GMD troops, although Deng hopes that a peaceful solution will be found on the negotiation table.

Mao Zedong expresses his concern to Jiang Jieshi that the talks between the two parties are not going well. Jiang nods and says that for China’s sake it is already an achievement that both of them talk with each other. He also tries to justify his behaviour in the past and suggests that the trouble the Communists caused him often prevented him from doing what he wanted. Furthermore, if there would have been no war against the Japanese, he would have implemented a successful land reform as well [like the Communists in their “liberated areas”], but sticking to Sun Yat-sen’s principle of buying it back from the landlords. He then asks Mao how the land reform worked out in the areas administered by the Communists. The Great Chairman, smoking calmly his cigarette, states that the CCP also faced some problems, but that he hopes that Jiang Jieshi, as head of the Chinese government, will solve these problems successfully in the future.

This scene is documentary-style, including original historical film material. The Tennô’s famous declaration of surrender is briefly cited. Then the official surrender of the Japanese Army in China on 9th of September, 1945, in Nanjing is shown. While the narrator is commenting about the historical events, one sees General He Yingqin (何应钦) with two other generals from the GMD who represent the Chinese government in this official ceremony of Japanese surrender, sitting on one side of a table. On the other side are the Japanese representatives, headed by General Okamura Yasuji. General Okamura walks over to his Chinese counterparts and hands over the official declaration of surrender to General He. Then one witnesses the Japanese capitulation in Beijing. Soldiers of the Japanese Army are standing in formation. Then they lay down their weapons on a table in front of the Chinese generals. The scene ends with doves flying into the sky and soft music which suggests a new beginning and a peaceful future.

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