Instalment 40 (1907)
Scene 1: At Yuan Shikai’s residence
Yuan Shikai wants to try and push Qu Hongji out of office. He therefore commissions Yang Shiqi to get in touch with Qu’s disciple, Wu Yuding, to try and bribe him into officially accusing his teacher. If Wu Yuding was to accuse his teacher, Yuan Shikai would not be suspected.
Scene 2: At the Imperial Palace
Cixi is talking to the Qing Prince about the rebellions in Guangdong and Guangxi. They are discussing a suitable candidate for the post of Provincial Governor there since Zhou Fu, who is currently serving, is already too old for that difficult task. The Qing Prince cleverly names Yuan Shikai and Cen Chunxuan as possible people for the appointment. Cixi believes that Cen Chun-xuan should be appointed since he already spent some time in the region. Moreover, she holds that his reputation is higher than that of Yuan Shikai. (Thus, one of Yuan Shikai’s and the Prince’s enemies will be sent away from Court.)
Scene 3: At the Imperial Palace
Cixi reminds Cen Chunxuan that she appointed him to a higher official rank a while ago, showing that she favours him. Thus, she wants him now to go to Guangzhou to be the new Provincial Governor to suppress the rebellions in the area.
Yang Shiqi is sent by Yuan Shikai to call on Wu Yuding. Yang proposes Wu to cooperate with Yuan and to publicly accuse his teacher Qu Hongji. Wu is taken aback and immediately declines enraged. Yang, however, offers him a position as Provincial Governor of Henan and riches for his family who lives in very humble circumstances. Before leaving Wu’s house, he hands Wu’s disabled son a box with a toy inside and deposits a draft for an indictment against Qu.
By orders of the Qing Prince, two photographers take a photo of Cen Chunxuan. Cen is very confused that the two men, who pretend to be journalists, do not wish to interview him.
The Qing Prince is looking at Cen Chunxuan’s photography. He tells his son Zaizhen that the photograph should be altered by his son-in-law Enming in Anhui to make sure that he and Zaizhen are not suspected.
Wu Yuding does not want to let his son play with the toy canon which Yuan Shikai has sent for him. Qu Hongji, who has come to pay a visit, though, plays with the son and praises the fine craftsmanship of the toy. He talks about corrupt court officials at the Qing court who are only trying to bite their time, amass money and go to prostitutes. But, he says, he came to realise only a short while ago that his own sincerity and incorruptibility did not help him in any way. Qu now understands that Cixi is only interested in whether one is loyal and therefore he wants to convince Wu to accuse him after all. Thus Wu could at least secure some prosperity for his family, after years of being a loyal disciple and forsaking all comforts. He should therefore sell the indictment draft to Yuan for the highest possible price. But since Wu decidedly refuses to do so, Qu takes up the brush himself and starts to write his own indictment!
Yang Shiqi, who seems to have been very sure of his success from the outset, calls on Wu Yuding and receives the indictment written by Qu Hongji himself. Yang gives Wu 500.000 Liang silver in return, but Wu declines an official post.
The indictment accuses Qu Hongji of having set up his own faction, having had secret connections to newspaper editorial boards and of having manipulated the official press department. Qu Hongji leaves his residence in a donkey cart and returns to his former home – a relatively mild punishment since he is dismissed from office but still receives his regular salary. Qu rejects Wu’s offer to give him financial support with the remark that he has sufficient money to live on and that he will not be left to starve (being also able to do joinery work).
Enming meanwhile manipulates Cen Chunxuan’s photography and copies it onto another photography: Cen Chunxuan is now shown standing between Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei!
Cixi is consulting with the Qing Prince about who should now replace Qu Hong-ji. She is considering appointing her nephew Zaifeng who is also the younger brother of the Guangxu emperor.
Xu Xilin and his friend Chen Boping are talking about their allegiance to the revolutionary faction and about woman revolutionist Qiu Jin’s plans for a rebellion in Shaoxing.
Xu Xilin asks Enming about his opinion regarding a constitutional monarchy. Enming is bluntly cynical and replies that the Qing government does not really want a fully constitutional monarchy. Rather, he believes, this is a matter of a factional struggle at court. He thinks that Cixi will not live to see the promulgated constitution since a twelve year period was set for its drafting. All newspapers report on page one that the reformers faction has won over the conservatives faction at Court, but Enming contends that the journalists do not understand anything about the unscrupulous politics of the Imperial Court. Xu carefully listens to this unsparing, open depiction and then wants to leave. En-ming, however, hopes to convince him to join the intrigue against Cen Chun-xuan and promises him a higher position in return. Xu, the former disciple of Liang Qichao, is supposed to present the manipulated photo to Cixi to prove that Cen Chunxuan has close connections to the reformers Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei! But Xu does not give his consent. Instead, he invites Enming to the graduation ceremony of the police academy which will take place the day after.
Enming is seated on the tribune next to Xu, who is the superintendent of the police academy. At the beginning of the festivities, revolutionaries suddenly throw grenades onto the courtyard. Xu shoots at Enming who had not understood that Xu is one of the revolutionaries who organised the rebellion.
Covered in blood and enchained, Xu is interrogated by two officials. During the interrogation, Xu holds a “revolutionary speech”. He explains that there are thousands of foreign students like him who want to fight for China’s prosperity and strength after returning from their studies in Japan. But it will take a revolution to change China, since China will never really be a constitutional monarchy – a fact, which has already been criticised by Sun Yatsen (and by which, Xu retrospectively concedes the point to Sun, proven also by the words of Enming). Xu accuses the officials of corruption. He believes that the only solution for China will be an overthrow and calls on his fellow compatriots to finally awaken. Enming’s murder, Xu claims, was a warning signal and a symbol of the people’s wrath. Shooting a Court official, he explains, was his way of demanding a public trial. He defiantly names which reformers out of the group of the Manchu officials he also wants to kill since he has come to realise that the so-called reformers at Court will not be able to bring about any form of change. They are merely “fig leaves” of the Imperial Court who are instrumentalised in order to secretly retain the prevailing court system.
Cixi now only has three officials left who can council her. Belated, the Qing Prince arrives at a meeting with Cixi and reports that his son-in-law, Enming, has been murdered. He shows Cixi the forged photography with Cen Chunxuan positioned between Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei, and claims that the three men are in a joint conspiracy. Cixi says that she is personally disappointed by Cen Chunxuan’s behaviour and that he has not retained his loyalty (which demonstrates that Qu Hongji’s evaluation about Cixi was correct: Cixi values loyalty above all and considers it the most important qualification for any official). She then has Cen Chunxuan dismissed from office.
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