'Sorrows of the Forbidden City' (1948)

I happenned to bump into a film called 'Qing Gong Mi Shi' (Sorrows of the Forbidden City) made in 1948, one year before the founding of the PRC. It recounts the story I have stated so far: Guangxu Emperor made up his mind to reform after the humiliation of Sino-Japanese War. But the reform was crushed by Cixi and her desciples. The film ends when the Eight-Allied forces invading Beijing, and Consort Zhen ordered to be pushed into the well while Cixi escaped from the capital, taking the Emperor with her.

It is said to be the first Qing court film ever made in China and received good feedback after it was shown in cinemas. It was also shown in foreign countries like Japan and the US. However, not long after the founding of PRC, Jiangqing, Mao's wife, said that it was a bad film that promotes the values of a traitor to one's country, instead of those of a patriotic one. Mao agreed and commented in his essay why this film is bad: First, it distorts the glorious patriotic figure of the Boxers, who are supposed to represent the power of the people according to Mao; Second, it sanctifies the reformists, notably Guangxu Emperor, who in essence still belonged to the ruling class and thus exploited the people, according to Marxist-Leninist values. Soon, this film was banned in mainland China.

During the Cultural Revolution, 'Sorrows of the Forbidden City' was condemned along with many other early films. My father told me that they were asked to watch this film in order to write an essay to condemn it. However, they all used the condemnation as an excuse to enjoy those films, as there was nothing worthy to be watched made during the Cultural Revolution. Liu Shao Qi, the Chinese president who was persecuted to death in that movement, was accused of praising this film as a patriotic one.