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Home , Cong Su, Family of Puyi, John Lone, Prince Chun (醇), Pujie, Puyi

The Last : The Journey of Finding Identity Chan Lam Kay

The Last Emperor (1987), directed by , was a classic epic movie which was the big winner of the 60th and the 45th Golden Globe Awards. Over the decades, the cinematography of the film has been thoroughly analyzed by critics. However, the identity of , of the Qing as well as the main character in the film, is more intriguing and fascinating to me. According to Stuart Hall (1990), cultural identity is “not an essence, but a positioning”. Meanwhile, the issue of searching for identities has been a focus and widely discussed in the recent decade in . In a sense, this film resonates with the floating identity of Hong Kong, especially the emotion and the destiny of Hong Kong people in such chaotic times throughout history, despite the fact that the whole story and production is not related to Hong Kong at all. Therefore, this article will mainly focus on the journey of searching for identity in Puyi as represented in the film, with reference to Hall’s and Jonathan Rutherford’s discussion on the politics of identity.

When compared with the television version (218 minutes), the theatre version (163 minutes) is more precise and consistent and thus is chosen to be discussed in this article. While the story happened in , the film itself was actually international production in terms of directing, screenwriting, casting and shooting. The original score was composed and arranged by (Japanese), (British-American) and Cong Su (Chinese) who had one piece being selected in the soundtrack. What’s more debatable is the language being used. Even if most actors/actresses are Chinese, they speak English except for some ritual phrases and traditional expression occasionally in Putonghua. It sounds wired to Chinese audiences. Therefore, some critics critiqued this film from the perspective of Orientalism. Said (1995) described Orientalism as “a western for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient”. The film production is a typical example of how Chinese history and Puyi’s biography have been represented and seen in the eyes of the West. Nevertheless, Puyi himself, no matter inside or outside the film, was exactly experiencing and perhaps struggling with the difference between “the Orient” and “the Occident” in that particular historical moment of regime change. Having said that, it is too complex and irrelevant to compare the “real” Puyi with the character in the film because it has been discussed in various articles.

1 The movie starts with the scene when Puyi (played by ) is a middle-aged man followed by the flashbacks of his past life as a toddler. As the story is not in chronological order, a narrative model of “the three-act structure” in film (Syd Field, 1979), including Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution, is employed to explain the transformation process of Puyi’s identity for the purpose of better understanding.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LAST-EMPEROR-1987-Bernardo-Bertolucci-John-Lone-Peter- OToole-CZECH-POSTER-/361407427372

2 Act I: The power of emperor

From “I can do whatever I want” to “I’m not allowed to say what I want to say”

Before 1908 1908 1912

Historical (Not depicted in the Death of Empress Moment movie) Dowager Cixi and the ended Coronation of Puyi (Implicated in the movie)

Social Toddler Emperor of Qing Dynasty Emperor exclusively Identity whose father Chun in the was ’s brother

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Emperor

In the Qing dynasty, China faced historical changes including internal disturbance and foreign aggression. Right after the death of the previous emperor and Cixi,

3 it “so happened” that Puyi was appointed as the successor. “The constitution of a social identity is an act of power” (Hall, 1990). As an emperor, the coronation of Puyi is undoubtedly a symbol of power. Even though he was a toddler, all government officials and even his own father needed to to him at the ceremony of coronation. The awakening of power was very significant for Puyi’s identity. The scene of coronation showed the innocent and Puyi’s childish side. Soon after he grew , he “realized” that he was the emperor and enjoyed playing around with his servants by using his power. As Hall (1990) suggested, there were two ways of understanding cultural identities, whilst the first was “oneness” with “shared culture, history and ancestry held in common”. Therefore, it was relatively stable and unchanging. It is easy to understand whenever we see something different from us, and we are more certain who we are. The other way was concerned with similarities and differences, which constituted “what we really are” and “what we have become”, and thus was always a constant transformation.

In Puyi’s case, his identity was never stable because of regime change. The conflicts of dramaturgy happened frequently in the relationship between Puyi and other characters, which constituted the identity of Puyi. From the scene of Puyi’s conflicts with his younger brother , he requested Pujie to take off the -sleeve robe and tried to emphasize his status as an emperor. Yellow was regarded as the imperial colour in China. When Pujie refused and claimed that he was not the emperor, the only way of Puyi to prove himself was to order his servant to drink the ink, which was ironic yet pathetic. After Qing dynasty's collapse, he became an emperor “exclusively” in the Forbidden City and “the only man who was not allowed to leave the front door in China” as referred by his foreign tutor Johnston (played by Peter O'Toole). It was once again an awakening of power but in a fading way.

In the movie, Puyi was portrayed as ambitious and rebellious. He tried to reform the system and expelled the eunuchs from the Forbidden City which aroused criticism and backlash from the high consorts and officials. There were also scenes of cutting his , having sex with his wives (played by ) and , which fully represented his masculinity as dominant, self-confident and determined. However, when it came to marriage, he could not choose his favourite girl Wenxiu as the first consort but could choose Wanrong instead even though he was the emperor.

4 Act II: Emperor as a name

1924 1927 1934

Historical Coup Chiang Kai Shek Moment taken established

Social An emperor expelled from “Playboy” Henry Puppet emperor of Identity the palace and exiled to in Tientsin Manchukuo Tientsin

When Puyi was young, he tried hard to escape from the Forbidden City. He was no longer allowed to live with his family until the Beijing Coup. As he stated earlier in the film that “the emperor never leaves the palace”, it became a metaphor that he was no longer an emperor after he left the Forbidden City until this particular moment. He could finally leave as he always wished; however, he did not expect to leave under this circumstance. When he moved to Tienjing, he became playboy Henry who was still able to afford a luxurious lifestyle. His marriage was not subject to him in the first place. Wenxiu divorced him without his consent, which was undoubtedly a representation of his fading power in the role of an emperor as well as a husband, especially in the old days when women rarely had the right to pick her own partner.

For some reasons, Puyi accepted the offer from Japan in the hope of re-establishing the Empire of but soon became the puppet emperor of Manchukuo. The contrast between the coronation at Manchukuo and the previous one in the Forbidden City was well presented in the scenes, in terms of the scale of ceremony and the symbolic meaning. If the coronation is a symbol of empowerment, the desolate and “empty” land in Manchuria, the presence of officials and guests reflected that Puyi as a puppet emperor just merely had the title but not the power. His dream was broken when all the officials left with an empty hall after he stated that Manchuria was not a colony. When the Japanese Military officer forced him to sign the orders and revealed that Wanrong had an affair with the driver, it was an insult to him that he lost his dignity as an emperor and a man. In fact, the decision of being the emperor in Manchukuo was contradictory and put him in a dilemma. Although he tried to 5 restore Manchuria by developing his own country, the collaboration with Japan could be interpreted as a betrayal to both Manchuria and the China, which made him political prisoner and traitor of the People’s Republic of China. From Act I to Act II, the confrontation in the film was all about the power struggle and resistance in Puyi’s identity.

“Identities are about questions of using the resources of history, language, and culture in the process of becoming rather than being” (Hall, 1996)

There was neither “rediscovery” nor “return” in identity (Hall, 1990), especially after the Qing dynasty collapsed. As the last emperor, Puyi’s identity has been shaped by regime change. As suggested by Rutherford (1990), “each individual is the synthesis not only of existing relations but of the history of these relations”. Identity is always a process instead of a definite and absolute answer. This is the history that determines how we have become. Whilst Abbas described Hong Kong’s culture space with “the strange dialectic between autonomy and dependency that we see in Hong Kong’s relation both to Britain and China”, Puyi’s identity from the emperor of the Qing Dynasty to “the last emperor” was highly shaped by the autonomy and dependency in the relation among him, Manchuria, warlord, Japan and the West.

When it comes to autonomy and dependency, it can be interpreted as the relationship between Puyi and his family. Without the identity of emperor, there were scenes reflecting that Puyi was powerless than the average person does in terms of self-care ability. When he was a teenager, he still asked for breastfeeding from his wet nurse, Ar Mo, which showed his weak side. When he wore the eyeglasses, it is considered insulting to the imperial family. It is because eyeglasses were invented by the West, and it also implied that the emperor had an illness (being short-sighted). The eyeglasses explicitly exposed the weakness. When he was in prison in his 40s, he still could not tie his shoes and brush his teeth without the assistance of servants. When his only servant refused to obey him, he felts totally hopeless. His failed suicide attempt was a representation of his autonomy and subjectivity. It means that he could not control the way of death.

Act III: True-Self Recognition and Acceptance

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1945 1950s 1960s

Historical Manchukuo People’s Republic of China Cultural Moment dissolved established in 1949 Revolution

Social Identity Prisoner Political Criminal; Prisoner 981 Gardener; an ordinary citizen

Naming is the most straightforward way of representing a person. Once Puyi became a prisoner, he was nobody without any power and even without a name but a number 981. After the People's Republic of China established and the began, he was released from prison.

“Home is within me”, as Rutherford suggested, “only when we achieve a sense of personal integrity can we represent ourselves and be recognized - this is home, this is belonging”. In his entire life, Puyi had been struggling for power and suffering from “home” and family separation. He was once trapped in the Forbidden City but then expelled from there. Whether to stay or leave, he never took a decision. Whilst Act III was usually the resolution based on “the three-act structure”, after going through tough times, without the name of emperor, Puyi could finally enjoy an ordinary life and get free both physically and mentally. In this sense, “home” is actually within Puyi himself.

The last scene was highly dramatized yet ironic. When the little guard with a red scarf asked Puyi who he was, he answered, “I was the ”, with the only proof which was the cricket under the chair. Although this plot was proven to be an imagination after the tour guide told tourists that Puyi actually died in 1967, this scene implied that he still insisted on his position as (used to be) an emperor until the very last moment. Whether this scene was a representation of Puyi’s longing for power or simply nostalgia for good old days, it should be open to interpretation though.

7 “Opening the door” and the Bicycle

The scenes and monologue of “opening the door” and the presence of door had been repeating throughout the movie, meaning that they were not just monologues or props but served as a motif. The door was a metaphor as well as a transition to link up the scenes. It first appeared when Puyi attempted to suicide in the washroom but being stopped, and brought to the flashback of the toddler Puyi being sent to Forbidden City with open gate. These doors were either being opened or forced to be opened. When Puyi’s mother has died, it was the first time for Puyi to ask for opening the door. He expressed the feeling of going home. Moreover, public reaction and gaze behind the door and the guards implied the shifting power of Puyi. At the beginning, no one was allowed to look at the emperor. When the story developed, it was obvious that the attitude of the guards has changed and even the construction workers could look straight through him. The door also appeared in the scenes of separation from Wanrong when she was sent to hospital after birth without any consent, and Puyi requested the guards to open the door but was rejected. Since the door is always associated with departure and separation of spaces, it perfectly matches the theme of the movie.

Whilst the door is the motif to divide space, the bicycle symbolizes mobility and the freedom to break through the space in the movie. The comparison between bicycle and litter is a contrast between autonomy and dependency. Since litter could be taken by labours and highly relied on their support, Puyi enjoyed the privilege but on the other hand lost the flexibility and autonomy. When Johnston gave him the bicycle as a gift, Puyi said that the doctor claimed bicycle was bad for him. While the bicycle symbolized western culture, it brought a sense of freedom and mobility as “I can go whatever I want” and “I can do it on my own”. In the 1960s, there was a scene of Puyi riding a bicycle in the crowd like an ordinary citizen. Therefore, throughout the whole movie, the appearance of bicycle represented an awakening of autonomy and subjectivity.

Same as the eyeglasses, the bicycle was considered as an invader from the West in the eyes of high consorts and officials. When Puyi realized that his mother has died and tried to leave the Forbidden City by bicycle, the minister was angry with the bicycle and scolded it as “troublemaker” and “meddler”, accusing the bicycle for allowing and luring Puyi to leave the Forbidden City. As Rutherford further explained the sense of “home”, which was “not only as the making of a sense of self and identity, but as a motif for a culture that values 8 difference and thrives on its own diversity”. As the last emperor, during regime change, Puyi chose to appreciate and embrace western culture, which made him become the freak and “otherness” in the imperial family who upheld the traditional and conservative values. At his early age, Puyi always longed for leaving this “home” and fantasized about going to Oxford with Wanrong. The contrast and conflict between the eastern and western culture embodied the sense of difference in Puyi’s identity.

Conclusion

There was a tagline on the Chinese version of the film poster, “from the moment you put on the imperial robe, you are not allowed to do as you like for the entire life.” During the historical change, an emperor was not allowed to choose his way of life, not to mention an ordinary people like us. Since cultural identity is a never-ending process, we are all in the journey of finding our own identity and subjectivity. There was an old Chinese saying that 安身立命 (an shen li ming), which might be too abstract to be translated into English, may resonate with what Hall referred to, positioning. In a year full of uncertainties and challenges, the film itself perhaps can be a reflection, a sign and a comfort for us how to position ourselves.

9 References 1. Abbas, Ackbar (1997): Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press

2. Hall, Stuart (1990) “Cultural Identity and Diaspora” in Jonathan Rutherford ed., Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. London, Lawrence & Wishart, pp 222-239.

3. Hall, Stuart (1996) ‘Who Needs “Identity”?’ In Questions of Cultural Identity. Eds. Stuart Hall & Paul du Gay. London, Thousand Oaks & New Delhi: SAGE, pp. 1-17.

4. Maio, A., 2019. The Three Act Structure: No Formulas Needed. [online] StudioBinder. Available at: [Accessed 30 November 2020].

5. Said, E.W. (1995). “Introduction” from Said Edward W., Orientalism: Western conceptions of the Orient pp.1-28, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

6. Rutherford, Jonathan (1990), “A Place Called Home: Identity and the Cultural Politics of Difference” in Jonathan Rutherford ed., Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. London, Lawrence & Wishart, pp. 9-27.

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