Scenes 21 to 30
1949/1/25: Jiang Jieshi is holding a meeting. He is sitting in front of a long table. Among others, Gu Zhutong (顾祝同), chief of general staff of the land forces, Qian Jishi (前济时), head of the bureau for military affairs, and He Yingqin (何应钦), head of the ministry of defence are present. Behind Jiang a huge map of China is hanging on the wall with strategic points marked in red. Jiang Jieshi is explaining his strategy. He wants to divide the defence of the Yangzi between Bai Chongxi in the West and Tang Enbo in the East. The most crucial place is Shanghai, because the financial power is concentrated there. Li Zongren may in turn take care of Nanjing. Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi who are not present are to be left in the dark about what Jiang exactly plans because he does not trust either of them. Jiang furthermore wishes the big industries of Nanjing to be transferred to Taiwan to avoid falling in the hands of the Communists or of Li Zongren.
Weng Wenhao (翁文灏), former head of the Executive Yuan, and Sun Yueqi (孙越崎), head of the financial committee, are sitting together with Li Zongren. They argue that any peace talks with the Communists cannot produce results if they transfer all valuables to Taiwan in the meantime. Li Zongren fully agrees with them.
Jiang is accompanied by several followers in paying respect to his ancestors for the last time. A secretary hands Jiang a telegram from his wife who is in the United States of America to rally support for the GMD side. According to her letter, President Truman does not want to support the GMD with personnel or weapons anymore for fear they might end up in the Communists’ hands or be sold by the corrupt GMD. Jiang, though, tells his followers the opposite about the letter’s content with regard to the American position: they are going to expect a completely new situation in the world, should they hold out for another year.
Li Zongren is sitting together with the American ambassador John Leighton Stuart. Li asks for American aid, but Stuart says that Jiang asks for the same. On whom America should bet? Li proposes to the ambassador to organise an “official tea” to which to invite the ambassadors of France, Great Britain etc. During the tea Li wants Stuart to hold a speech in support of him, sending out a warning to the Communist International to stay clear of China. Stuart, though, questions Li about the latter’s meeting with the Soviet ambassador earlier that day. Though Li says the Soviets agree to help him, Stuart has been informed that the meeting rather ended up in failure since the Soviets asked for a high price and did not believe Li might ever stop working with the Americans. Thus Li’s diplomacy has obviously failed.
1949/1/31: driving through the countryside, Stalin’s special envoy Mikoyan-Gurevich, accompanied by the translator Shi Zhe (师哲), is coming to meet Mao Zedong and the CCP leaders. They are greeting each other very warmly.
Mao and the CCP leaders are having a conversation with the Soviet envoy. Mao tells Mikoyan-Gurevich that even though they are all Communists and thus share common general features, there are still some differences between China and the Soviet Union which should be respected. Mikoyan-Gurevich promises to report faithfully to Stalin. [Interestingly, these last two scenes were not envisaged in the screen play and have been added later; it could well be that this reflected the events of spring 1989 and the recent changes in the Soviet Union].
1949/2/3: The PLA is peacefully entering Beiping with their leaders Nie Rongzhen (聂荣臻), Lin Biao (林彪) and Luo Ronghuan (罗荣桓). People are standing on both sides on the street, welcoming the soldiers on their tanks.
1949/2/5: Subtitle: The Executive Yuan has been moved by his head, Sun Ke, from Nanjing to Guangzhou (Canton). Li Zongren is driving through Nanjing where the streets are full of beggars and people on the move. His secretary expresses his concern about the government’s fragmentation all over the country: Jiang Jieshi has his headquarters in Fenghua, the defence is concentrated in Shanghai, the Executive has moved to Guangzhou, but the deputy president Li Zongren is still in Nanjing. Li, though, says that there is still the Judicative supporting him, and they will challenge Sun Ke’s right to move the Executive. The subtitle adds: on 1949/3/7 Sun Ke and his Executive have to resign under the pressure of the Judicative still in Nanjing.
In the rural setting, several leading CCP military cadres are introduced to the viewer: Peng Dehuai (澎德怀), Lin Biao (林彪), He Long (贺龙), Dong Biwu (董必武), Lin Boqu (林伯渠) and Wang Zhen (王震). Everyone seems to be very happy and relaxed. When a soldier (much later to be identified as Qi Zhenyun 齐振云) approaches Mao and hands him some cigarettes, Zhou Enlai smilingly enforces the regulations and snaps them away from Mao.
1949/3/5: On the Second Plenum of the Seventh Central Committee Mao is holding a speech. He stresses that they have achieved much but have to achieve even more in the future and reminds all of the basic morals necessary to carry on the revolution.
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