Scenes 41 to 50

Mao Zedong wears a simple but comfortable white shirt and his blue trousers. It seems to be already late in the evening. While reading a book, Mao is interrupted by his comrade Zhou Enlai who informs him that the talks with the GMD are in a crisis. The tone is getting harsher, Zhou goes on, and the Nationalist Party does not want come to an agreement with the CCP on the matter of the “liberated areas”. After a cut, one sees Zhou and Mao outside the current residence of the CCP leaders. They talk about their comrades in the army who have offered their blood and lives for every inch of land in the “liberated areas”. But for the sake of the whole of China, Mao Zedong is willing to give up some areas, so that the peace talks can end with a positive result. Zhou Enlai says that the sympathies of the people of China will be with the CCP if they give in to the GMD. Jiang Jieshi’s false play, on the other hand, will eventually fail. While Zhou Enlai is talking, the camera is moving toward the dark sky where one sees a full moon.

Communist commander Liu Zhong, who’s troops are stationed in Beiguan, Shanxi, receives a call. He is been told that GMD general Shi’s troops are approaching and that he should be ready to defend Beiguan.

A great number of government soldiers is seen marching. The sounds in the background are very loud: one hears the soldiers’ marching, roaring military vehicle motors and neighing horses. General Shi receives order through his phone that he should take Beiguan. This indicates that despite of the peace talks in Chongqing, the military leadership of the GMD simultaneously wants to confront the CCP militarily. Then a subordinate of General Shi delivers a message to him. It is a warning of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Bocheng, that if Shi’s troops would not retreat, the Communist army will attack. An apparently arrogant general Shi ignores this warning. In the next short cut one sees Communist soldiers on a hill, secretly observing the government troops passing by and ready to attack. In the next cut one observes the numerous well equipped government troops with their military vehicles and their horses again. The flag of the Chinese Republic is in the centre of this scene. In the following cut the Communists finally attack. Loud noises of bombs, bullets and explosions are to be heard. The government troops are obviously not prepared for this sudden guerrilla attack by the Communists and run away.

A furious Jiang Jieshi, sitting in front of his desk, questions one of his staff why he has not been told about the crash of a plane he obviously had sent for some mission. He gets the answer that several men have already been sent to the crash area and that he could relax. Still angry, Jiang stares away from his staff who slowly retreats.

The Communist troops, although smaller in number, successfully defeated the GMD troops. The Communist soldiers cheer enthusiastically because of their victory, underscored by loud and jubilant music. The GMD soldiers, in turn, hold their hands up or cross their arms above their head in defeat. Now POWs, they are obviously led to their prison camp. In one brief shot one sees the defeated general Shi with his subordinate. In other cuts, dead bodies of GMD soldiers, a burning vehicle etc. are shown, but above all the scene demonstrates to the audience that a small number of Communist soldiers has defeated a huge GMD army.

The three GMD negotiators Zhang Zhizhong, Zhang Qun and Shao Lizi are sitting on the left side of the table, while the Communists Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei are sitting on the opposite side [again pointing to numerical dominance of the GMD]. In the back of the GMD officials one sees two men taking record of the talks. Zhang Qun is talking about totally irrelevant things to gain time. Zhou and Wang look at each other irritated because of Zhang Qun’s idle talk. Zhou, becoming impatient, interrupts him by knocking on the table. He now wants to start to talk business. He declares that his party is willing to compromise, giving up several areas which are under CCP control. But the Nationalist side is not satisfied. The offer of 24 CCP controlled areas is not enough. It should have been all 48! Zhou stresses that his party has also already offered to reduce the strength of its army significantly. But Zhang Zhizhong responds that this is all a question of principles: one country, one army (i.e. all or nothing). Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei are very angry about the stubborn behaviour of the Nationalists. Wang argues that this viewpoint of the GMD will not lead to a nation of the Chinese people, as the GMD always claimed, but to a one party state (i.e. the CCP asserts its equal claims to represent the people). And Zhou Enlai, annoyed, remarks that his party did come to Chongqing to come to a mutual agreement but not to simply listen to the Nationalists’ demands. Zhang Qun in turn declares that the negotiations then should stop here.

In the first cuts one sees how Miss Tong enters the temporary residence of the CCP delegates. Then we see her sitting together with Zhou Enlai in a room. While Zhou Enlai is writing a letter, Miss Tong tells him how the GMD attack on the CCP during the ongoing negotiations had changed her mind. Now she has a different opinion of the CCP and that is why she wants to publish a positive article about it. She apologizes to Zhou for her former mistakes and about the disrespectful behaviour she had shown in front of Chairman Mao. Zhou thanks her for her cooperation and accepts her apology.

Jiang Jieshi, Mao Zedong, Jiang’s wife Song Meiling as English interpreter and US ambassador to China, Patrick J. Hurley, stroll through Jiang’s garden together with Zhang Qun, Jiang’s son Jingguo and Wang Shijie. Ahead of them, a photographer takes pictures of this group. Hurley says he will go back to the US to make a report to President Truman. Mao, though, questions him what he will report to Truman because no results have come out of the CCP-GMD- talks, yet. Hurley replies that he will tell his president that Jiang and Mao are both peace-loving people and that he is optimistic that they will come up with a good solution. Mao and Jiang politely laugh and the Generalissimo adds that Hurley’s optimism will not be disappointed. Then the photographer takes a historic group photo of the two Chinese leaders, Hurley and the high GMD officials. At last it is Hurley who insists on having a photo taken with only Jiang and Mao on it in front of Jiang’s residence. Hurley, standing behind the photographer, is showing a victory sign, giving the scene a relaxed and somewhat comical atmosphere. When the photo is shot, a camera click is heard and the original historic photo is superimposed. – Now inside the residence, Hurley asks Mao what the Communists would do should the talks fail. Will there be a war? The CCP chairman answers that the Communist troops are numerically smaller than the GMD troops and that they also receive no money from the US as the GMD does! When Hurley remarks that Mao could simply go back to Yan’an if he does not come to an agreement with Jiang, Mao asks whether the US then only want the CCP to sign everything that the GMD says? [Hurley always stands or sits next to Jiang Jieshi in this scene, indicating which side the US prefers]. This would mean that the US were not really interested in a bi-lateral consensus.
When Mao tries to include Jiang Jieshi in this questioning of the sincerity on their part in the negotiations, the Generalissimo avoids an unequivocal statement. The US diplomat then mentions Chairman Mao’s skills in poetry and asks who the ruler might be who is mentioned in one of Mao’s verses. Jiang Jieshi or Mao himself? Mao says that neither Jiang nor he himself should be a “ruler”. Both of them as leaders of the two parties are negotiating because it is the will of the people! Then the Chairman criticizes the biased interests of the US. China is a big market, and the Americans are welcome to do business, but with only providing weapons they surely could not make any money! Hurley replies, that he will report to President Truman all the issues which Mao had mentioned and will further report Mao’s great abilities as a leader. – In the last cut doves are flying into the sky but the sound in the background creates an uncomfortable atmosphere, indicating that the negotiations are at a critical turning point.

Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai are sitting in front of their desk when Wang Ruofei arrives with a telegram sent by Liu Shaoqi from Yan’an. The centre of the CCP leadership asks the CCP representatives in Chongqing to end the negotiations with the GMD because they have seen GMD statements which reveal that the negotiations are only designed to gain time. Mao, though, argues they have to think for some strategy, now that Hurley [a kind of third, though not directly involved part in the negotiations, also guaranteeing for Mao’s personal safety] has left. – After a short cut one sees Jiang Jieshi commenting to his son that Mao is now in a predicament.

Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai have come to visit Chen Lifu (陈立夫). Chen is known as a leading member of the right-wing influential „CC Clique“ of the GMD. But in this scene the differences which exist between the right-wing GMD member and the CCP leaders do not seem insurmountable. Chen Lifu takes out a letter written by Zhou Enlai from the time of the Sino- Japanese war (written in 1942) which Chen had kept [and which shows he still values the Communists in some way]. When Zhou asks him about his Confucian studies [Chen published several times on Confucianism], Chen furthermore argues that Zhou, Mao and he himself are in fact all “experts on Mencius and Confucius” since these philosophers are the core of Chinese culture – and thus should bring together all Chinese. The Communist leaders agree to this statement. [Notably, at the time when Mao ruled China, the CCP took an anti-Confucian stand, but since the 1980s this attitude has started to shift.] Mao goes on to say that Chen Lifu had helped already twice with forming a united front. Therefore the two Communist leaders hope that Chen might influence Jiang Jieshi again. [The scene thus stresses that the CCP leadership tried everything possible to convince the GMD to come to a peaceful solution.] Then Jiang Jieshi suddenly arrives at Chen Lifu’s residence and states he is surprised to see the two Communists here, given the fact that Chen should be Mao’s greatest foe because he is a leading CC Clique member. Mao, however, quotes a saying attributed to Napoleon, that neither there is a friend forever nor a foe forever (没有永远的朋友，也没有永远的敌人). They all laugh.

previous  next

back to top