Scenes 11 to 20
Zhu De, Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi are discussing the current situation of the Civil War. The offensive in central China is making progress, and Fu Zuoyi in Beiping is encircled. Vice general Du Yuming (杜聿明) of Xuzhou and his army should be the next target. [Battle scenes and the GMD surrender show the latter mission accomplished].
Two military men of the CCP are talking to three military men of the GMD who have been captured by the Communists. The CCP men ask them to identify themselves and present their credentials. One of them (Du Yuming), pretends not to carry an identification card and is embarrassed by the questioning. The CCP investigators assure him they will be lenient to all but for the responsible general Du Yuming. He, though, refuses to say anything in shame. After the investigators have left the cell, he tries to kill himself but is prevented by his two comrades to do so.
Chen Yi (陈毅), the commanding officer of the East China field army, is taking a walk through the camp, looking after the injured soldiers and honouring them for their efforts. When the captured GMD military man who had refused to identify himself and then had tried to commit suicide, is carried by on a stretcher, Chen Yi tells him who he is and ask again for his name. Now Du Yuming outs himself in view of his victorious counterpart. [The subtitle adds: on 1949/1/10 after over 60 days, the Huahai battle was finally over].
Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De are talking about the negotiations going on with Fu Zuoyi. Mao is upset about the long-lasting negotiations that do not produce any results and finally wants to take actions. He asks Zhu De when they are going to attack Tianjin as the entry to Beiping. Zhu answers that they should attack on the 14th of January. Afterwards they plan to take over Beiping. Mao, though, emphasises that Beiping has to be conquered carefully, so that the cultural heritage will be preserved. [The subtitle adds: on 1949/1/14 the CCP troupes conquer Tianjin in one day].
Fu Zuoyi, who is playing with a pistol, and his daughter Fu Dongju are discussing the situation. Fu Dongju advises her father to give up and to collaborate with the CCP. When her father asks her, she admits to being a Communist herself and being sent by Mao Zedong personally to convince him of the uselessness of his resistance. Fu’s old teacher Liu Houtong who comes in, shares her point of view. When Fu Zuoyi argues that it would be a disgrace to loose to the CCP generals who are much younger than himself, Liu reminds him that the whole cultural heritage of Beiping is at stake. Finally, He Siyuan (何思源), ex-mayor of Beiping, comes in as well and proposes to personally meet the Communists to come to an agreement. Fu Zuoyi then agrees. [The subtitle adds: on 1949/1/22 Fu Zuoyi’s Beiping troupes surrender to the PLA].
Jiang Jieshi is holding a meeting. GMD members are sitting around a long table listening to Jiang who announces his resignation and declares Li Zongren as his successor. Some are complaining about his decision and beg Jiang not to step down, but Jiang is resolute and is about to leave the room when the question whether it would not be time now to finally free Zhang Xueliang who has been held captive since the Xi’an incident in 1936 when he pressurised Jiang into a second United Front with the Communists, is raised. Jiang, though, reacts evasively.
Jiang, together with several officers, pays respect to his predecessor Sun Yat-sen in the latter’s mausoleum and bids him farewell.
Li Zongren is complaining to Zhang Qun about Jiang’s declaration of resigning from office in which Li is continuously addressed as “vice president” who “takes over responsibilities” instead of explicitly transferring the title of president to him. Furthermore, it does not declare what role Jiang himself now is going to play. Li does not want to act merely as a puppet and thus wants the declaration to be changed. In order to correct the declaration, Zhang Qun gives Jiang a call and explains the matter to him. Jiang then says everything should be done according to Li’s wishes but then goes on to comment to his son Jiang Jingguo (蒋经国) that Li is naïve in believing he is really going to retire. Then Jingguo reminds him of a dinner to be held in honour for him. Jiang coldly remarks that this is to celebrate his abdication.
Jiang Jieshi and his son Jingguo are going by car to a banquet which is held in honour for the now “retired” Jiang by the head of Zhejiang Province, Chen Yi (陈义). Tang Enbo (汤恩伯), Commander-in-chief of the garrisons of the great cities at the Yangzi, and Chen Cheng (陈诚), head of Taiwan province, are also present. While sitting around the table for having dinner, Chen Yi talks about Jiang Jieshi’s “great gesture” of resignation from office but the latter reacts very sour and refuses to eat: “Soldiers that do not fight should be killed”. The subtitle adds: Sixteen days after, Chen Yi is removed from office; again fourteen days later his pupil Tang Enbo betrays him and throws him into prison; one year afterwards he is executed in Taiwan. [Chen Yi had also been governor in Taiwan when the February 28th incident in 1947 occurred and had ordered the ensuing massacre on Taiwan. His execution was also designed to appease the Taiwanese population].
1949/1/22: Li Zongren sees the published declaration of Jiang’s resignation, in which in fact nothing has been changed: he is still named vice president who “takes over responsibilities”. The presidential secretary Wu Zhongxin (吴忠信) advises Li to not react strongly, being surrounded by Jiang’s men. Zhang Zhizhong (张治中) enters the room to congratulate Li for his new position. Their conversation is interrupted by the ring of the telephone; it is Bai Chongxi, general of Wuhan, who tells Li not to give in to Jiang. Li Zongren considers all the support around him and decides as a first step to have a letter sent to Mao in which he agrees to accept Mao’s eight demands [for the peace negotiations]. Secondly he wants to stop the Communist advance beyond the Yangzi. And thirdly he intends to ask the Americans for financial aid in order to stop inflation. Zhang agrees to Li’s first point but questions whether the second and third point are realisable. Li, though, thinks that there are many people inclined to a “third alternative” beyond the GMD and the CCP that will sustain him. But Zhang tells him that many “third party” people already have thrown in their lot with the CCP.
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