A patriotic poem.

Full River Red (China; 2023)

Director: Zhang Yimou

'Full River Red' is a patriotic poem written by Yue Fei, a Chinese general during the reign of the Southern Song Dynasty. There was a time when the Jin Dynasty overpowered the Northern Song Dynasty from the area now known as Manchuria. Yue Fei was assigned to recapture the northern capital from the intruders. Just as he was about to overpower the invader, he was told to retreat.

The Southern King thought the released Northern King may have a claim to the throne. Yue Fei was called back to the southern capital, charged with trumped-up charges, and executed or died in prison. He was a victim of an internal political imbroglio. An established poet, Yue Fei wrote the poem to stir patriotic fervour among the people. It portrays his hatred towards the invading northern army and his frustration toward the peace accord with the Jin dynasty from the north. 'Full River Red' has become a masterpiece in the history of Chinese literature.

To put cold water into the sense of Chinese patriotism, a renowned Song scholar from Princeton, James T. C. Liu, says that the poem may have been written in the 16th century, looking at the words used. Yue Fei lived between 1103 and 1142! So, the poem may not be his at all.

As complicated as Chinese history was when we studied it in school, with similar-sounding names and convoluted turns of events, this movie follows the same trajectory. It should have occurred five years after Yue Fei's demise.

The Chancellor, who worked under the umbrella of the Southern Song emperor, had made a secret agreement with the Jin Dynasty representative. Yue Fei's supporters (the people) intercepted the papers by killing the Jin's messenger. The Chancellor had to prevent his maleficence from being out in the open. He assigns two men to find the culprit.

That snowballs into a sword unsheathing, head decapitating, violence-filled dark comedy. The film's climax is the poem's recital by all the prisoners. The entire army rises to the occasion with the inspiring patriotic hair-raising words of the poem.

This film turned out to be one of the highest-grossing Chinese movies. It is nothing more than using a common heritage to spur nationalism. But then, do they really share a common heritage when the People's Republic of China may be viewed as the rule of the Han people over other ethnicities like the Manchus, Uighurs, Tibetans, Mongols, and more. I am not sure whether the Chinese living in the areas bordering Central Asia and Tibetans share the same romantic views on a shared history.

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Beyond strengthening ties?

Under the guise of surveillance, imperial powers went to all four corners of the world. Their true intentions, as was eventually discovered by the locals, were reconnaissance work to ascertain terrains and landscapes for economic potentials and geopolitical purposes, not for the development of mankind. Neither was it to garner scientific facts to explore our civilisation. It was business. The icing on the cake was exploring how natives could eventually be 'civilised' via Western education and the introduction of The Book.

From the 18th century onwards, the Western world was excited, discovering new exotic lands with wealth beyond belief. Pretty soon, no combative teams started scouting new lands in Africa, India, China and various other parts of Asia. Under the guise of doing land surveying, whites were seen around Afghanistan, Siberia, the Middle East and the Far East. When geopolitical turmoils embroiled in these regions, the armies of the imperial forces suddenly found their knowledge of the area useful to usurp lands. Their understanding of the region's economic potential was also instrumental in concentrating their meddling efforts. Think Lawrence of Arabia, the Britishers' strange relationship with the Saud family and finds of petroleum. Think of Alexender Burnes and the subsequent Kabul Expedition.

Hence, there grew a faction of Caucasians who knew more about the Orientals, the Indians or the Aztecs than the natives themselves. They essentially taught the natives who they were and what their ancestors thought and lived. They rewrote their histories to suit the day's narrative, with the imperialists appearing as saviours.

Students at Beijing Foreign Studies University
©tamilculture.com

So naturally, when Tamil-speaking Chinese appeared on the vernacular radio, specifically on the RTM Minnal network, to be interviewed, many Tamil-speaking Malaysian Indians were on cloud nine, proud of their mother tongue, happy seeing it going places. I remained sceptical.

In July 2023, Kuala Lumpur hosted the 11th International Tamil Conference. Tamil scholars from all over the world gathered to sing praises of one of the oldest surviving languages in the world. Delegates immerse themselves in the language's beauty, richness, glitter and exquisiteness. The Tamil language does not stand alone as a mode of communication. Tamil history, ethics, devotion, literature, and recipes for a meaningful life are intertwined with the language.

For many years, TikTok and YouTube have showcased many snippets of Chinese people conversing proficiently in accented Tamil. They show many of their colleagues indulging in Tamil foods, mouthing traditional Tamil poems and recitals, all dressed in traditional Indian costumes. Beijing University even provides space for learning Tamil and other Indian languages at the undergraduate level.  

Is it for the love of the culture, or are they pursuing a tongue-rolling challenge when the Chinese students signed up for these courses? Is there another sinister master plan by the powers that be?

With the regular redrawing of its borders and standing tall, not answerable to international courts, their intentions may be anything but altruistic. History has proven that even gifts-bearing well wishes who turn up at one's land have no noble intentions. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zambia can bear witness to all the business wranglings and hand sleigh movements that got them into a mess.

Take the example of the Spratly Islands in the middle of the South China Sea. Even though for years, that spread of uninhabitable islands was disputed amongst Vietnam, the Philipines, and Malaysia, one starry night, China decided that they wanted to occupy it. And that is how it has been since. China just kept building mammoth structures in the no man's land at its disputed border with India till one day, it was found to have brought its warriors there.

There is no smoke without fire if lessons from past events were anything to go by. The keenness to acquire knowledge in other people's languages and cultures may belie underlying private intentions. It may not be just a foreign diplomacy. Everybody likes to think they have a genuine interest in learning each others' culture and language so that all can hold hands and sing Kumbayah. Maybe that is the truth. On the one hand, we demand that others respect our language, culture, and way of life. In the same breath, we become suspicious when they do. 

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Chinese Top Gun?

Born to Fly (Chinese, 2023)

Written, Directed: Lin Xiaoshi

The ending says it all. Anyone who invades Chinese airspace will be resolutely shut down. Some will label it as China's reply to Hollywood's 'Top Gun' and 'Maverick' while others would brush this movie as another of the CCP's propaganda projects. Thanks to the USA's brilliant plan to outsource, China has leapt by leaps and bounds. Trying to save on their budget, it appeared then that getting China to handle military networks was a bright idea.

In 21st-century China, she can send a rocket to the dark side of the Moon and match the US fighter and stealth planes. Hence, the silver screen is the best avenue to showcase their prowess in the sky. Hopefully, the offspring of the one-child policy families would be impressed to lose their sons to become fighter and test pilots.

Surprisingly, after an initial screening, which drew record box office collection, CCP decided to withdraw the permit for its screening. Rumours had it the special effects and the computer-generated images were inferior to Top Gun's. If you ask me, it is probably because, in the movie, the Chinese plane ran into trouble way too many times, causing a crash twice, killing a commander and injuring another. It gave the impression that Chinese products were unreliable. What's more, when it comes to precision engineering like planes, there is no place for error, even if it is occasional, even at the test flight level.

This movie starts with a foreign (US) F35 fighter plane encroaching into Chinese airspace. Even though Chinese soldiers warned them politely, the foreign pilots sniggered at them and teased them into a dogfight. The enemies gave the Chinese a runaround with their modern 5th-generation fighter planes. The Chinese were embarrassed with their 4th-generation planes.

The rest of the story is about how an elite team is recruited to test out a new fleet of planes and devise ways to combat certain shortcomings in its design. After an emotional turn of events, the new recruits turn heroes manning their 5th-generation J20 planes and proudly intimidating and chasing away the foreign intruders.

 

China marking their territories after the new map?

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5000 years of civilisation given due recognition?

Shang-Chi and The Legend of Ten Rings (2021)

Gone are the times when Hollywood made movies that overtly mocked cultures other than Western ones. Typically Indians and Chinese were portrayed as bumbling fools. Their cultures were made to look ridiculous, and their followers were mere bufoons. Perhaps they still do that but, alas, in a more subtle way. Just try to remember Amrish Puri as a Kaali worshipper enjoying human eyeballs as a delicacy and the faithful and spineless follower of Fu-Manchu plunging to their deaths in Hollywood's Fu-Manchu series.

For that matter, even the Russians and German were made to look like headless chickens running aimlessly in espionage sagas and combat movies.

Shang-Chi was a character introduced by Marvel in 1973 to spice up the series and satiate the appetite of comic fans the world over. Shang-Chi was presented as a long lost son of Fu-Manchu, who had been training in Tibet. In the earlier films, his daughter Lin Tang was characterised as his evil sidekick, doing the groundwork for Fu-Manchu's megalomaniac ambitions.

In concordance to Marvel and Hollywood's agenda to pander to screams of the woke generation and offer so-called 'olive branch' to the minority and marginalised groups, the filmmakers have decided to make a Chinese superhero. However, the legend of Fu-Manchu reminds the world of the bygone idea of Sax Rohmer and writers of his era with the awful idea of 'Yellow Peril'. East Asia was portrayed as a threat to the western world, and Fu-Manchu was singled out as a caricature of a one-man mission to kill all white men and women to bring China back to its ancient glory. In 1932, the Chinese Embassy had expressed its objection to MGM's 'The Mask of Fu Manchu'.

China is such a big market for movies that Hollywood can ill afford to offend. The reminder of an offensive villain would not augur well with the Chinese market and for Chinese diplomacy.

In different versions of the comic series, Shang-Chi's father had been others - Zheng Zu and Mandarin. In this 2021 film version, the screenwriters have cleverly downtoned the evil quotient of these villains to create a composite character called Wen Wu. This works just well for Marvel had not obtained rights over the characters of Fu-Manchu and his nemeses. Incidentally, Mandarin was seen as Iron Man's arch-enemy. His 'Ten Ring' was an alien finding. 

The earlier ten rings were finger worn.
Tony Leung as WenWu

Shaun, a parking valet, leads a quiet life with his colleague Katy in San Francisco. All that comes to a halt when some bad dudes turn up on a bus he was travelling and create a hell ride on the undulating streets of San Francisco, reminiscent of the movie 'Speed'. The baddies are out for his pendant. Fearing that they would go for his sister, Xialing, Shaun (@Shang-Chi) speeds to Macau to meet her.

Malaysian input

That starts the dark family secret, the truth about his missing father, the story behind his mother's death and the legendary fight to stop the forces of evil from reigning Earth. In their own way, the film tries to apologise to the Chinese diaspora about Mandarin's past in Iron Man 3. An impersonator, Trevor Slattery, admits to having portrayed Mandarin and bad stereotyping behind him.

The final outcome is a story rich with ancient Chinese wisdom pregnant with much oriental mysticism. With the advancement of computer graphics and digital enhancement, what churns out is a tale that puts China and Chinese culture back on the map of its ancient glory. It is much like what Admiral Zheng Ho did to the Ming Dynasty in the 15th century when he sailed the high seas to explore till the New World, maybe.

(P.S. Malaysia has two representatives in the movie, Ronny Chieng and Michelle Yeoh)

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Obey Fu Manchu Or Every Living Thing Will Die!

The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
Director: Don Sharp

A film like this, made in the 21st century, would be wrong by all accounts. Words like cultural appropriation and stereotyping would be hurled to shoot this film into oblivion. Many of its dialogue can be construed as offensive or downright racist. But then, in the 60s, when this film was released, it was pretty okay. In fact, it was such a hit that it earned four subsequent sequels.

The character Fu-Manchu is the brainchild of an English novelist, Sax Rohmer (Arthur Henry "Sarfield' Ward 1883-1959). His first short story in 1912 with the character took such a liking on either side of the Atlantic that it spurred follow-up novels, plays and even a movie in 1923 titled The Mystery of Fu-Manchu.

The average Englishman in the early 20th century UK had probably no contact with an Oriental person. They had probably read about the industrious Japanese and their effort towards modernisation via the Meiji Dynasty. This was perhaps not the case in the USA or continental Europe, especially Russia. Chinese and Japanese immigrants have been working on the Pacific coast and were subjected to the same mistreatment as the blacks. The Russians had been perpetually fighting with the Japanese for imperial ambitions over Manchuria and Korea. The British were sympathetic towards the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese wars.

Sax Rohmer

For the imperialists and expansionists amongst the British, the Far East was a lucrative avenue for business and wealth. Their entry into China was resisted by the Chinese dynasty's closed-door policy. The colonialists justify their involvement in the Opium Wars by vilifying the Chinese as a mystic race with evil exuding from their every orifice. The anti-foreigners and anti-Christian stance of the Boxer Rebellion further cemented the idea the Chinese were terrible. Maybe the Europeans had not forgotten the cruelties Genghiz Khan and Atilla of the Oriental race. The sentiments to paint the Chinese as bad was skyrocketing by the late 19th and early 20th century. Hence, characters like Fu-Manchu and the looming fabled Yellow Peril seem justified. The 1905 Japanese win over the Russians seems to defend their claim that that anti-White yellow race was out to rule the world. Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II was honoured to have coined the term 'Yellow Peril' (Gelbe Gefahr) to encourage Imperial German interests and justify European colonialism in China.

A racist cartoon of The Yellow Terror in all His Glory
(1899) depicts an anti-colonial Qing DynastyChinese
man standing over a fallen white woman who
represents the Western world. (Wiki)

The xenophobic outlook towards the Chinese and other Orientals never went away. The central involvement of the Japanese in the Second World War and the embrace of Communist by China made the Great White powers somewhat sceptical of them. I guess now with China's threat to the US hegemony of world affairs puts them back in the wrong light. Even the Australians who had overt anti-Chinese clauses in their White Australia have resorted to labelling China and CCP as the Southern Continent's number one enemy of the State.

The yellow peril has had many faces, but Fu Manchu epitomised them for mass culture. A hugely popular icon, he even has a full facial hair is named after him - Fu-Manchu moustache, a wiry well-oiled moustache that almost touches the chin.

'The Face of Fu Manchu' is a predictable offering that mimics many supervillains often seen on the silver screen with megalomaniacal ambitions of world domination. Like the baddies of James Bond, Fu Manchu is an evil genius with tonnes of knowledge into the mystical world of hypnotism and herbalism, escapes execution in China only to appear around River Thames. With his convoluted plan to weaponise Tibetian poppyseed to poison all lifeforms around London, he kidnaps a chemistry Professor to extract the toxic concoction.

In come Dr Fu Manchu's nemeses, Dr Petrie and Nayland Smith of the Scotland Yard, to thwart his plan.

Fu Manchu

Two points piqued my interest here. Firstly, it is the catchy 'Younghusband' documents. Such a document actually existed. As in most British expeditions where surveyance is used as a guise to the British imperial ambitions, it compiled British exploration of Tibet, probably an economic assessment of conquest of that land.

Secondly, it is Fu Manchu's daughter, Lin Tang. She is Fu Manchu's faithful sidekick. Shang-Chi only appears in 1973's edition of Marvel's comics. He is said to be Fu Manchu's son, but due to the non-renewal of rights and probably portrayal of a Chinese character in a bad light, Shang-Chi's father is depicted as Xu Wenwu. Shang-Chi's sister is Xu Xialing (not Lin Tang!). It would just go contrary to the producer's idea of including minority groups as superheroes to tap the lucrative Chinese market, would it not?

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Regrets we may have a few...

2046 (Cantonese; 2004)
Writer, Director: Wong Kar-Wai

Our life is like a moving speed-train. We catch glimpses of experiences that excite us and poof, it is gone. We yearn to immortalise the pleasant encounter's memory, but unfortunately, it is not always possible. The journey itself is so unpredictable that the last delightful experience may not be the best, the best may yet be on the horizon. Or maybe, that was it! Oh, life is so uncertain. 

Are all memories traces of tears and is nostalgia a bad thing? Does living in the memory of the past a wrong thing? Things that we learn in the past are the guiding lights for future battles, but somehow sometimes we still feel we accidentally let something slip by too prematurely or inadvertently. Regrets we may have a few. 

For these, the writer creates a fictitious world/city/future where memories are permanent and can be re-captured. Nobody knew for sure if such a place existed but, nobody who went there ever returned. That is, except the protagonist, Chow. He wanted to change.  He wanted certainty.

This is a rare science fiction that is not commonly seen in the Chinese cinema. Being a Wong Kar-Wai's creation, it is told in a disjointed form with many timelines crisscrossing each other. This film is the final offering of a loose trilogy (the others being 'Days of  Being Wild' [1990] and 'In the Mood for Love' [2000]), based on the experience of love. It is a visually satisfying presentation that brings back the nostalgia of mid to late 1960s Hong Kong.

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In the mood?

In the Mood for Love (Cantonese; 2000)
Director: Wong Kar-wai

This film must surely be a fruit of a labour of love. It is such a joyful experience to watch as the viewers are cradled back to a Shanghainese community's claustrophobic surroundings in 1962 Hong Kong.

It is a story of a close-knit group tenant, specifically of two couples, in an apartment building. Two spouses who are often left alone by their busy working partners end up developing feelings for each other. The busy partners in real fact are embroiled in an affair, between themselves. The scorned spouses discover a common interest, create a platonic relationship but soon realise it is romantic. They resist the temptations to be as low as their partners, despite the circumstances of time and the lure of their biological attractions.

The theme of this story segues nicely into a discussion I had with my friends recently. What is this thing about marriage? Is it a mere a public declaration of a property much like when Vasco da Gama hoisted his flag in the shores of a particularly cold Christmas morning to claim Natal as the property of the Portuguese King Emmanuel?  Is it an injunction to limit his sexual prowess to a single named party? Is it a decree to ensure the union's earning member's responsibility to provide for the economic and biological needs?

Believe it or not, the Hindu scriptures have looked at marriages as the souls' union rather than physical bodies. It is a continuum of their karmic evolution. Sex does not come in the equation. It is perfectly normal to have a sexless marriage. Polygamy and polyandry were accepted in ancient Bharat but not accepted in the modern legal system. My research shows that various dharmic texts like the Manu-Smriti and Vedas have classified marriages into eight forms - Brahmana, Daiva, Rishis, Prajapati, Asuras, Gandharva, Rakshasa and Pisaka. The first four forms of marriages are done with the blessings of a father figure. The Asura type is a form of bride selling. Lovers in 'love marriages' would make secret pacts of their union utilise the Gandharva rite, using an animate object or a person as proof. Rakshaha and Pisaka marriages are frowned upon and are deemed criminal. It is equivalent to the bride abduction and 'date-rape' in a modern setting.

The decision of union of the individuals and matrimony is all about an individual's perception. Sometimes we decide on life matters and feel it is warranted to satisfy our inner desires and personal intent. Whether copulation is a mere biological act or a divine cosmic dance of the feminine and masculine forces is a personal preference.

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To tell or not to tell?

The Farewell (2019)

I first heard this story as being narrated by Lulu Wang in the podcast 'American Life'. It tells Lulu's story of how her family dealt with the news of her paternal grandmother's diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. It describes how Lulu's parents, together with her uncle's (father's brother) family in Japan, gathered in China, where the grandmother lives, to bid her farewell. The twist is that the whole family decided not to tell the patient, Nai Nai as she is affectionately referred to. The family, from three countries, descended upon Nai Nai's house under the pretext of celebrating Lulu's Japanese cousin's wedding.

Lulu's role is portrayed as an early 30s Chinese American student who goes to China in a soul-searching journey to rediscover her Chinese identity. She learns to appreciate the traditional family values. As their old values dictate that the happy mind would give a healthy body, the family thought that not telling Nai Nai of her disease and its grave prognosis. Still, instead of keeping her happy in the company of the people loves, it would go a long way in prolonging her life.

The trick seems to have worked in the case of Nai Nai. Even though she was given only three months to live by her Chinese physicians (and the diagnosis was agreed by American doctors), she went on to live another six years.

The traditional wisdom in modern medicine is that the patient has the right to know his or her disease. By understanding the extent of his illness, he is in a position to go all out to combat his ailment, especially which is chronic. This is especially so in cases where the prognosis is uncertain, like in cancers. A patient's attitude and resolve towards fighting the sickness and one-mindedness in battling cancer may actually alter the final outcome.

A person in the terminal stage of her infirmity may want to step up his preparations for the ethereal world. He may want to tick off the items in his bucket list (pun unintended). The content of his will may need alterations and many more.

In many Indian families too, I have noticed that the family would collectively decide that bad news, especially of the medical kind, would not be made known to the elder members. Are the family members worried that breaking bad news may trigger a cardiovascular and emotional meltdown that would be more devastating?

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