Scenes 81 to 90
Jiang Jieshi’s warship turns away into the red sunrise.
On top of a house a banner reads: “Shanghai welcomes the People’s Liberation Army”. Masses of cheering people are on the streets as the troupes arrive. The people of Shanghai give the People’s Liberation Army a warm welcome, they shake the soldiers’ hands and put red flags on the tanks.
Mao asks his son Anying if he is still angry with him. Anying answers wryly that whatever he may do, he will always be considered Mao’s son. To appease him, Mao promises he will organise a wedding for him after the declaration of the founding of the People’s Republic.
A young soldier combs Mao's hair. When he finds a white hair he asks whether he shall tear it out, but Mao declines. He then tells him to call his secretary Ye Zilong and to send a car to his office. The soldier leaves and Mao looks at himself in the mirror.
Mao walks through the streets of Beiping. His secretary Ye Zilong wants to stop him but Mao wishes to mingle with the people.
Zhou Enlai comes in and calls for Ye Zilong, but nobody answers.
Mao walks around on a night market in Beiping. Somebody asks Mao to help him light his cigarette. Suddenly Mao catches sight of five characters expressing: “Chairman Mao forever”.
Mao enjoys a bowl of Yangroupao while a couple of men at the next table talk about the changes in every day life and Mao Zedong’s auspicious physiognomy. They joke and sing. After finishing his bowl, Mao wants to pay but realises he does not carry any money. Fortunately, Ye Zilong comes over and pays for him. When they leave the restaurant, an elderly man stands up and shouts that this man was Mao Zedong. The owner of the restaurant says that if he had known before, he definitely would not have wanted any money.
Mao enters his office, still the popular songs he heard on the night market on his lips, when he sees Zhu De,
Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi who are sitting around a table and are waiting for him. They are angry because he clandestinely went
into the city for his private amusement, therewith transgressing the rules. Mao acknowledges he did but adds that his private walk at
least showed him that for all the beautiful and splendid Forbidden City, there are many very poor places in Beijing. E.g. in front of
the south gate of Wangfujing street (王府井) he first thought there was an artificial mountain.
But then he realised it was a mountain
made from garbage. Therefore the development of Beiping should be considered.
He asks whether the opinion of specialists about the
reconstruction of Beiping has been heard. Zhou says that they already had a couple of meetings, but many specialists had argued that
Beijing should not be changed. Mao opposes this opinion, although he likes the traditional houses in Beijing
(siheyuan 四合院), but he
thinks that the new government should not use the old building style of the imperial era. Zhou also tells him that some specialists are
against building factories in Beiping. Mao also opposes this line of argument, because after the war the people do not have work or food,
and thus need them urgently. Mao wants to fill the masses with enthusiasm for a faster reconstruction of the economy.
But Liu Shaoqi reminds him that he himself had said that it would take a long time to change the economy. Thus he should not contradict himself.
[This is a clear reference to Mao’s “Great leap” mentality and Liu Shaoqi’s toning him down – though the film suggests more sympathy with Mao!]
The American ambassador leaves the embassy and the American flag is taken off the roof. (The commentator ridicules this act as a “hasty withdrawal”).
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