Remember, a little man does not cry out. No matter what he sees.
The sounds of death are far away now.
My good red pigskin boxes...
...that I brought here as a bride.
Come, old woman.
There's worse to see in the courtyard.
Wait here.
Do not spare me what you must see.
Someone comes.
Is anybody here?
It's our third son.
Mother. Father.
- You are safe. - Yes, yes, we are safe.
We're safe. Where's your brother and his family?
I don't know. We lost each other and did not come together again.
- Sit down. - Where are the others?
We met people who told us it was safe in the foreign school in the city.
- My sister and her children are there. - Where then is Wu Lien?
Perhaps he stayed in safety with our daughter.
He went back to his shop and he will stay there, he said.
But how he can, I do not know.
The women, little children. Streets run with their blood.
In the village, the young women are dead in the grass.
And no one knows how many others still live...
...but would be better dead.
Oh, what I have seen this night.
Oh, I cannot. I cannot.
There, there, my meat dumpling.
She was ever a poor, foolish little thing, without courage.
But she was my wife.
And the mother of my children.
I cannot stay here. I cannot.
Quiet, my son. This is your home.
No longer. I hate it.
I do not care where I go, but I cannot stay here.
I will go with those in the hills who fight this horror.
Rest today first. Do not think of it now.
I cannot rest. I must go.
Help our third son make ready for his journey.
Remember, my son, all weeping ceases at last.
Your brother's rash and foolish, and I will keep an eye on him.
If not my own, then one that I can trust.
I would have you follow him to the hills and watch over him for me.
- Do you so command me, Father? - I do.
The hills.
There I, too, could fight.
Yes, I can pay these dwarfs some of what I owe them.
I could kill them like lice in a winter coat.
Since this time yesterday, cousin, we have both lost sons.
- Can a cock still crow? - It does not seem one should.
I feel there is no tomorrow.
Come in. Come in, sirs.
- Salted fish. - Fish, yes. Yes, sir.
Here, here is fish. Oh, no.
What...?
I'm of all creatures, the most unfortunate.
These fish are not salted. No, no, sir. They are only soaked in oil.
- I will take them. - Then take them as a gift, please.
I bought them from your country and now I return them to you.
- Thank you. You are Wu Lien? - Yes, sir.
- And you do not hate us? - Why, no. I hate no one, sir.
Thank you. For all this damage we are sorry.
- Our soldiers very brave, angry. - Oh, yes, I know. I know how soldiers are.
But now... Now let us hope for peace. Only in peace can we do business.
I am glad to meet a man who hates no one.
What can I say except that whatever you want me to do I will do.
You maybe useful to us, if you will.
Will I not be...?
We shall set up a people's government here.
And those who rule, shall rule for us. Can you read and write?
Oh, certainly, sir. I'm a man of culture.
- You know the address written there? - Yes. Yes, sir.
I have delivered goods there. It is the house of a very rich man.
And now he shares it with us, his friends.
You will come there tomorrow. And live there.
You'll see how merciful we are with those who do not resist us.
Yes.
Our flag above your door will protect you until you come to us.
All my thanks, great one. Oh, even to 10,000 thousand.
I'm more cheered than I've been for months. Now I can be with my household again.
How wise am I to arrange my own affairs so well.
- Another patriot has died. - Patriot. What, then, is a patriot?
To be one must a man die and let the worms eat his flesh?
No, no, no. I think not.
All these thing that happen are not my affair.
Whatever comes, I'm a man of peace.
And whatever heaven sends I will take and go on with my business.
If this foolish resistance will stop there will be peace.
Do you not agree?
Farmer, this country now belongs to us, your conquerors.
You must produce on your land as we say.
And the harvest is to come to us at the price we tell you it shall be.
And those who disobey us will need their land no longer.
- But they take all the fish. The pond is mine. - Nothing is yours.
Will you village men never learn that you are conquered?
If they take all the rice, how can we live and plant in the spring?
You can live off your own fat and you will be given seed when the time come.
You don't even leave us breeding stock.
We will raise the animals henceforth and also eat them.
My ox. Who will pull the plow?
Your own back looks strong.
How would we feed our grandchildren now?
- Why did you not defy him? - Alive, I can hold my land.
Dead, I can only hold so much as I am buried in.
So while Ling Tan and his kinsmen tried somehow to live on...
... those who had taken machines apart with their hands...
... so they could be carried piece by piece, were making their way forward.
Mud could not stop them. Nor could rain.
Rain that so filled the air that fish could have lived in it.
Mud so thick that it held them back like evil hands.
Water was made to cross and it was crossed many times.
And when it could not be walked in, boats were built.
And the people rowed upon the water.
And were grateful for the moment that they need not walk.
Time came when the earth opened at their feet...
... but they did not stop.
They took what they had, rags and belts and ropes, and made bridges...
... and passed over.
And then they reached the high mountain passes...
... where no one had gone before.
And many faltered, for food was gone and strength was near an end.
Many faltered but did not stop.
Nothing could stop them but their own will.
Nor could it stop Jade and Lao Er.
Although now and then, they rested...
... and she yearned for the end of the journey...
... for she knew that her time was at hand.
The enemy was everywhere, leaving footprints on the sick earth...
... and many of Ling Tan's kinsmen died.
Some met death quickly but they were the fortunate ones.
For others found a longer, harder way to die.
And then starvation came, and pestilence...
... and did not spare the house of Ling Tan.
The little children were struck down for they were the weakest.
So Ling Tan and his wife went into the fields...
... to dig for roots and forgotten kernels of grain.
All about them were the other people of the valley.
And the hunger pain in their bellies drove some of them mad...
... and they became as animals and fought each other.
Some of them fell upon their knees...
... and fought for swill that not even swine would eat...
... while the enemy laughed.
But still, Ling Tan and others like him clung to their land.
Old woman?
I have found food for them.
Girl is dead.
But the boy... There is food. We can help him.
It's too late. He is past all help.
What is a house where no children are?
They brought only happiness and they have taken it away.
What need could the gods have of them?
That should I go on living when my grandchildren die.
Curse all these men who would make wars.
Curse all women who give birth to these men.
And curse their grandmothers and all who are their kin.
Why do not men of peace and sense band together...
...and forbid life to those who would make wars?
Yet what can I do?
One man upon my land.
Cousin, cousin? Are you here, then?
Cousin, are you here, then? Cousin, cousin? Where is the man?
I come with big news in my mouth.
See. See, they have food and did not share it.
This is from your son. A messenger brought it to the teahouse.
A letter from a son is something I will never have now.
We have all lost much.
Well, then, open it.
The cord is red.
- It is a son. - We have a grandson.
But you weep. This is a time for joy.
Two grandchildren lie dead in our house.
Shall I thank heaven for sending us back but one?
Quiet, woman, or heaven will hear you and take even him away.
Thank you, cousin. This news lightens our heavy hearts.
A grandson is no small thing.
By rights, this child of Jade's is not yours.
You talk with no thought.
Pray excuse her. Bitterness has turned her words to gall.
Had Jade married my son as she ought...
...he would be alive today and safe there with her.
And so before the gods, her child is our grandchild.
I should drive you from my house...
...but it would soil this moment.
This joyful moment.
But not even the enemy could stop the seasons.
And at last it was spring.
And each farmer was given grain. Not to eat, but to plant.
And it was said that each seed was counted...
... and the man would answer for it if each seed did not yield.
So Ling Tan harnessed himself to his plow like an ox.
And together, he and his old woman felt the earth turn beneath their feet.
The grain grew straight and tall.
But Ling Tan and his wife could no longer take pleasure in it's promise...
... for they knew that what they worked for would not be theirs.
Now what, old woman? Has the enemy not done enough damage to my house?
Must you dig up the foundations?
We will keep our seed and the vegetables we grow...
...and hide them in this hole.
- I will make it big enough to hold a pig. - What pig?
The one you'll steal from the enemy's breeding farm.
But it will have to be big.
How can you dig such a thing without help. The earth is stubborn.
Heaven gave me the thought. Heaven will provide the help.
The shovel is there.
We will steal food from ourselves and eat it.
I am too just a man to deny sense even to a woman, when I hear it from her.
If all do this, we'll harry the enemy like fleas in a dog's tail.
And it may be that he will make little headway for stopping to gnaw at his rear.
- My son. - My father.
Oh, what gladness.
My mother.
Have I no grandson? Where is he? Where is he?
Quiet, woman. Before you burst, and the enemy hears the sound you make.
Where have you left my little dumpling?
Books, still books. You've crushed him beneath them.
You seem to love them more than you love your child.
How sweet his flesh smells.
Bring the lamp close so I can see him.
Oh, my little meat dumpling.
Oh, how firm he is of body, and his hair like black silk.
He's exactly as I thought he would be.
I knew you'd bring him back to me. I knew. I knew.
Else I could not have lived.
Night after night, I've dreamed of holding him like this.
Guard you heart, old woman. Guard your heart.
Yes, my mother, too much joy is as bad as too much sorrow.
Here, my mother, drink down this cold tea. Then the words can come out.
Why, this is no usual child. Look at his face, how square it is.
And he has a square mouth.
- Now give him back to me. - In a moment, old woman. In a moment.
What can the enemy do to us when our family goes on like this?
There, now. You are in your home and you must eat.
I beg you not be angry with me, Mother...
...but do not put food from your mouth into the child's.
Well, I fed my own son so. It did him no harm.
But it is not thought good now. I bought a book and it told how to care for children.
- And it spoke against such things. - Why, you better take your child back.
- Doubtless, I pollute him when I hold him. - Mother, it was for you I brought him home.
Cool your anger, both of you. Should we quarrel this night, of all nights...
...and over the child who is the center of our hearts?
Did I ever have a book to feed my children?
Did I ever lose a son?
Indulge her with the child. It will heal her for everything.
Our house has come alive again, old man.
- Good day, friends. - Good day.
My son comes from the free land. He has a message from the high command.
There are many like me and we spread among the villagers...
...to tell such men as you what we must do.
This enemy must be resisted.
Openly where the land is free and secretly where the land is lost.
We, who must resist secretly, have a harder task than the others.
We must work together as the fingers on one hand.
We must track down this enemy and kill him.
What we should do is this...
Join with the hill men? You're inviting us to die.
Yes, but to die like men, not sheep on the butchering block.
You must not blame our cousin.
A scholar can never be as brave as one unlettered.
We must build the hole under my father's house into one strong room.
And there we will hide the men that must be hidden.
- Where did you find these guns? - Some have foreign writing on them.
A wise man does not question a gift too closely.
I will take the guard now.
No, eat first. I am not weary.
One of our kinsmen wants to know where you found the guns.
Tell him they are easiest found by sticking a knife into the belly of an enemy soldier:
And there is the gun for you, as if from his insides.
My sons, all my sons.
What more can I ask, who am only a woman?
To hear our third son speak, one would think he'd like to kill.
Oh, how well he looks.
And not on my cooking. I do not understand it.
Oh, you should see the women admire him now.
- And still he has yet to choose one. - Women.
Do not turn your nose toward heaven.
It's time you brought home a daughter-in-law. See that you do.
What would become of us if we did not have the women to keep at us?
If you had no women, none of you would be born.
I want grandsons before I die.
Let fat men like Wu Lien bother with such nonsense.
I'm lean enough to fight. That is what I'm going to do.
I wanted to ask, what news of Wu Lien?
He and his family live in the city and are protected, I heard.
Yes, we have heard, but they haven't come to tell us so themselves.
Nor has Wu Lien been here to his mother's grave.
I have known of others who are protected.
Could this mean he deals with the enemy?
- I will not believe that until I know it is so. - Nor will I.
Someone comes.
It is Neighbor Shen, the lookout.
Enemy soldiers are in the village.
They look for young men to slave for them.
Well, then, let us help them find what they seek.
- How many of the enemy? - A line from here to the door.
Kinsman, come out and bring enough guns...
...for the others who will act with us.
This is the beginning of it, then.
- You will be safe? - Let them come, the bandy-legs.
Get into the cart.
These Chinese pigs do not fight.
They were born to be slaves.
But this one is strong.
Yes, a good work animal.
- This one will be sent to the mine. - We made a good catch tonight.
This is almost too easy.
Bring the rest to the cart.
They're the ones I found.
We need more work animals like this.
Search the houses again.
Some of them are still hiding.
Shoot any that resist.
We must teach them that it is an honor to serve the emperor.
- Stop him. - Catch him.
If he escapes, we are lost. He will bring others to kill us.
- Don't shoot. Don't shoot. - Do not be afraid.
I am not going to shoot you.
Come to bed, old man. Or have you learned to sleep standing up?
The name of the book that Jade once read...
...was it not All Men Are Brothers?
It was. But is that something to steal your rest?
This is what troubles me.
How can Jade send forth her husband to kill other men if all men are his brothers?
Perhaps because the bandy-legs are no longer men but beasts.
But must we, too, become as beasts?
Tonight, I learned that men kill differently.
I saw our third son with his knife and...
He came back into this house...
...and picked up food and ate it with the blood still upon his hands.
I say that is wrong.
Yet the enemy is upon us. We must kill them or be killed.
But there is one thing we must remember, old woman, or we have killed ourselves too.
Peace is good.
The young cannot remember it.
And it is we who must remember...
...and teach them again that peace is man's great food.
If you had two sons, there would be no work done.
Someone comes.
It is only your elder sister.
- Do not tell them we are here, Mother. - We will go to the hidden room.
This is a strange day when brothers and sisters hide from each other.
All days are strange now.
Soldiers.
They look rich.
Were they always so fat?
Perhaps our eyes have grown used to people afraid and hungry.
My old ones, here we are to see you.
A thousand fortunes.
I trust you are well.
Are we then welcome to come within?
You and your family are welcome.
But I cannot let others into my house.
You need not fear. These two only came to guard me.
What guard do you need in my house?
My father-in-law is old and afraid.
I'm not afraid. But I will not have them in my house.
Then I must wait here with the guards.
- Will you bring stools to sit upon? - I will.
Country people, they have no manners.
Where, then, are my brothers?
They are gone, and we are alone.
Even your elder brother's children are dead.
They died of sickness and starvation.
It is the times.
I grieve for my elder brother and for you also. I weep for you.
Do not waste your tears. My own have dried.
Why are you so stiff?
You must know that what I do is done only for the best.
I do not know what you do.
Times are times, and the wise man takes his time as he finds it.
Compromise is sometimes better than valor.
Where do you live now?
At the 10th house of the North Gate Street.
That is a street of fine houses. How can you live there?
I am told to live there. I work for the new government.
I'm well-paid and I'm content.
You see what I would say, my father-in-law?
I am a common man. I am so stupid...
...I understand only a thing when it is said to me, and when I hear it.
I come here today to help you.
If you do as I say, your life will be easier.
- What must I do? - Do whatever is told you to do.
And I will manage for you here and there as I'm able.
What had you to do, son-in-law?
For one thing, I'm a controller of all incoming goods.
Rice and wheat, fish, opium, salt...
Opium? Opium? That evil was driven from our country by great pain and suffering.
- And now you bring it back. - But I'm not my own master.
How can you be so hard?
After all, there are only you two old people left.
- And we are all you have. - We can live.
You do well to leave. We are not wanted here.
What our son feared was true.
Curse this enemy.
He has made me quarrel with my daughter.
See? Silk coats and enemy soldiers to serve him.
It is plain Wu Lien has got his fingers into the fat.
Of what value is a rich relative unless you can put him to use?
We are his kinsmen and would see Wu Lien.
Go in. Wu Lien sees anybody.
Where are the rooms of Wu Lien, our rich relative?
In there.
What greater pleasure is there than a short visit from relatives?
But next time, eat the fish. Do not bring it to us.
Wu Lien, you're a kind, good man.
Can you not find my old man a worthless little piece of work...
...here in these walls to pay us something?
But will my father-in-law let him come here?
My husband by right should have more power than your father-in-law...
...because he is older. And it is time he took that power.
Do you think the same way, elder cousin?
- My husband always thinks as I do. - And how's that?
I think we must save ourselves at all cost...
...and bow before what is upon us...
...and do what we can to make something of it.
Yes, perhaps you will be more content to remain in the village...
...where you are known and know everybody.
But you are welcome to visit us here. We'll give you food, money.
And then you can give us the news.
We have very little to tell. Nothing happens in our village.
Much has happened and more will. Wu Lien.
My old man and I will be as one eye and one ear.
And all that we see and hear, you shall see and hear also.
We always like to hear how you do, and my wife's father and mother.
- And her brothers also? - Of course, of course.
They are also our kin.
But since they are away, there must be little news of them.
True, true, they're all in the free land and not at home.
Then perhaps I saw Jade and her fat child in a dream.
Oh, Jade has a child, then?
Yes, yes, the news came in a letter from the free land.
- But we've not seen the child. - Child is a fine boy. Too fine.
Death sits on his eyebrows, I say, whenever I look at him...
...which is often.
You live well here, cousin. Your position must be good.
It is smooth on the top but under it is another thing.
Our conquerors feel a rising anger that may engulf us all.
How then?
Too many soldiers have gone forth from the city for food and goods...
...and have not returned.
Not even their bodies have been found.
It is a great mystery, and one that may destroy all of us.
Even the innocent.
Now, now, I will speak and fully.
The enemy is sure to find out that the killing started in our village.
Then what will our lives be worth?
Wu Lien, we had nothing to do with it. It is Ling Tan.
Ling Tan and his sons. They are all returned and work with the hill men.
- I've seen them and they are the leaders. - The woman's blind as a mole and crazy.
Not too blind to see enemy dead piled in the streets and buried...
...in the hidden room beneath Ling Tan's house where men and guns are.
Yes, other young men have died, my son among them.
But not the sons of Ling Tan.
No, they still spit and stride about and boast.
Woman, how can you utter such lies against Ling Tan?
He has been good to us. He has fed us often.
- Can you forget this? - I can forget it.
He likes to give us small gifts. It makes him bigger in his own eyes.
- Shall we thank him for his own pride? - I'm not concerned with his pride.
- I'd rather have some of my own. - And you shall have. I will see to it.
When you wear a silk coat over a full round belly...
...you will have pride in yourself then.
What use to speak to you of pride when we use the same word...
...but mean different things by it?
Of all men on earth, you are least like a man.
- Do not worry about that one. - Yes.
He will follow me, or answer to me.
We will always be glad to see you, kinswoman.
Another time? Another quiet little talk such as this one has been.
Yes. Yes, as soon as we have fresh news.
My poor father and his household walk on a rope above a pit.
I have forgotten the things we have heard.
Have you, my husband?
No, I have a mind that lets go of nothing.
Captain Sato calls for you.
- He says, bring the work you have finished. - Oh, yes, yes. Yes, at once.
The Chinese people welcome their good neighbor...
...who gives them food, peace and safety.
- It is a clever work. - Thank you.
And perhaps it will help us to put an end to all these killings.
I will put the poster in all the usual places.
Chinaman!
Come here.
Did I not instruct you to obtain information for me...
...about the disappearance of our soldiers? - Sir, I...
I have found nothing as yet.
Do you think that one village is the center of this rebellion?
And if it is, how can we find it?
Perhaps we should burn all the villages and shoot all the farmers.
Will that end this stupid resistance?
Perhaps, sir. Perhaps, but then...
...who would plant and harvest the crop next year if you did that?
And if there was no crop, how could your army here be fed?
- How would you yourselves eat, great ones? - We thought of that, Chinaman.
We only wondered if you had also.
- And so we are all agreed. - Yes, great one.
We are agreed that we must find that center.
- And destroy it. - Yes, great one.
- And it will be your privilege to help us. - Thank you.
I will have information soon. If it is possible, very soon.
Thank you.
How could we conquer a country without its traitors?
They order me to broaden the smile on the face of the soldier.
Do they not know a broader smile will only make him resemble a shark the more?
You did not speak of your new knowledge?
I did not.
Will you ever speak of it?
As long as I am able, I will not.
But when you are no longer able, what then?
How can I tell that?
How does a man know today what he must do tomorrow?
You are afraid. You are in danger here.
Where am I not in danger?
In these times, one chooses to live in the den of the tiger or the lion.
There is no other place.
And I am a man in the middle.
How can a man in the middle stay there without splitting himself?
And if he does that, he is only half a man.
Half. Can half a man still live?
Here is our third cousin.
How are you, cousin?
What is it?
I should have killed her even as she spoke.
Who would you kill then?
The female I call my wife.
Has that woman been snapping at your heels again?
Had I killed her, I myself would have been killed...
...but at least our village would now be safe...
...and all our kinsmen.
What is this, cousin?
This is not easy for me to say but I must.
My wife is a traitor.
She has told Wu Lien all she knows of what happens here.
Of the secret room and your sons and the resistance.
Wu Lien, the running dog.
He must be silenced.
But he may not speak.
There is another who has already spoken and may do so again...
...the wife of our cousin here.
I can say only this. She will speak no more.
You have killed her.
No, no, I did not kill her. Although there was a moment...
...when I thought she no longer breathed.
I beat her.
I beat her until she leaned against the wall to keep from falling.
What then of Wu Lien?
We must remember this: He is of our family.
Our sons return from the hills tonight.
They will know how to deal with him. There is but one way.
I know my husband will see it as I see it and be willing to do what must be done.
Would you have him kill his brother-in-law?
Rather than have his brother-in-law kill him.
I cannot decide this alone.
Come, cousin.
It concerns us all in the village.
Can anything ever be the same again even though peace comes?
Some small good has come of this. Out of it, I am born a man again.
I must go to the city.
I read what you would do in your eyes.
- You are with me on this, Mother? - I am with you, Daughter.
Women ever must act while men waste time in talk.
The great power of this...
...is that a grain kills in a second and is as tasteless as flour.
Many women buy this poison in these times.
Some for themselves and some for others.
How much will you need?
I may not need any at all. I hope I do not.
But I will take as much as I have money to buy.
Wu Lien?
Jade. It cannot be.
How are you, sister-in-law?
This house is well-guarded.
But when I told them I was your relative, the gate opened like magic.
Yes, they guard themselves, but not against my husband.
Why do you stare so at me? Are you not glad to see me?
Yes. Yes, I am glad.
You look well, if not fat.
I have not rested yet. I returned from the free land only yesterday.
- Only yesterday? - Where's my silk coat, I...
Here is Jade to see us. She tells me she returned but yesterday.
Together with my husband and son. And today, they still sleep.
Welcome, sister-in-law, we're glad you are home again.
The old ones have been too long alone.
- Now, where is my coat? - Here it is. Ready for you to wear.
My husband will be honored tonight at a banquet for the conquerors.
Yes, and now I must dress for it.
Will not our women's prattle disturb him?
Oh, no, no. I will not hear it.
As I came through the city, I found many changes.
My husband says the conqueror prides himself...
...on the public improvements he has made.
Improvements?
Today, I saw enemy soldiers pasting up a picture...
...which showed another enemy soldier smiling and giving food to our people...
...who knelt before him.
That is my husband's handiwork. Is it not good to look upon?
Very.
Beneath the picture and looking up at it stood hungry people.
And they brought bowls and crept close...
...and scooped up some of the paste that the soldiers were using.
And then they ran away and hid and ate it.
Ate the paste?
Even that is better than nothing.
But the conqueror does give food.
He gives it to us and there must be others.
Yes, there are others.
The enemy sometimes gives sweets, and often to children.
Well, then, you must admit that giving sweets to children is not evil.
Is it not? In the sweets is opium.
When once the children eat it, they have the hunger that is fire in their veins.
And so they are spoiled forever.
Your own children look well.
He has learned the tongue of the enemy very quickly.
Who knows what he may grow up to say in it.
We will remember our own things to tell him.
Then do not forget to tell him of the other children.
And the mothers and fathers of those children...
...all tied together and soaked with oil.
And burned alive while they cried for mercy.
I will hear no more of this. All the killing.
Tell your wife not to shudder, brother-in-law.
People now take these as things that may happen to any one of us.
- And any day. - I will get tea.
I trust I did not disturb you.
I heard very little.
Can it be that you have trained your ears not to hear what you do not wish to hear?
You...
You must forgive my wife. She is but a woman and not as we are.
I do not think we are the same.
I think you are against me and all who are with me.
I am against no one.
Are you for us, then?
I'm neither for nor against anything.
What you are not for, you are against.
You have changed while you were away in the free land.
I'm not sure the change becomes you.
No. No, it does not.
A woman should be soft, like the skin of a peach.
Not hard like the stone which does no one any good.
Do not forget that the tree itself grows from the stone.
Surely that is the beginning of everything.
If I could see my parents sometimes, I would be content.
Your husband is content and so must you be.
Yes, I am what I am. And so is my wife.
And she is one who has always known her place as a woman and kept to it.
Will you tell my parents this for me?
- Will you tell them I think of them often? - Yes, she will tell them.
And now, if you wish to feed your children, we will excuse you.
Will you not share some tea with me, brother-in-law...
...although I am only a woman?
Come, I will pour it for you.
No. Although I thank you.
I cannot eat when I have something on my mind to do.
My stomach growls and takes offense.
Surely you are a man who should nourish himself at every opportunity.
Do not worry about me. I will eat myself full tonight.
There is duck and I am very fond of duck.
Oh, enter, enter.
Well, then, cook, I trust everything in the kitchen is well.
You sent for me. I am here. Do not waste time on idle talk.
Yes, I sent for you, but only to ask...
...if the food will be prepared in fashion as I have ordered.
Steamed duck, pullets with Chinese herbs...
...pigeon eggs in soup, and shark's fins with crabmeat.
All will be ready. You have too many words.
- Be sure everything is ready... - It will be ready when it is ready.
- I am not a man to be hurried. - Yes.
You see, we have plenty of food here. More than enough.
- Will you not take some home with you? - No.
Oh, but why? It will only be thrown to the dogs. Why do you not take it?
Because, brother-in-law, we are not dogs.
Wait. You cannot enter. Strangers are not allowed in the kitchen.
What is the...?
Did you not send for someone?
A new cook, perhaps?
Well, I would not think cooking is one of your talents.
How can you know that until you have tried me?
I will throw her into the street.
I will do that myself. Later, perhaps.
Get on with your work.
How did you get into this house?
Is it not plain? Wu Lien sent for me.
Why?
Oh, you need not answer. I have seen his wife.
It is time to baste the pigs. Get them ready.
Now, tell me, why did you come into the kitchen, huh?
I am hungry. There is food here.
Why, did you not get food from Wu Lien?
Wu Lien will not last. He could not feed me for long.
Nor can I. Chinese are not allowed in the kitchen.
But I am one who is of no country. I am only a woman.
Can you blame me if I would be with those who have conquered here?
- So you like us, then? - No, I do not.
But I like hunger even less.
Oh, so you're not afraid.
Can it be that I have found a woman of my own liking?
- You will feed me then? - Feed you? Food is dear.
How will you pay for it?
How? How else then to make myself useful?
Useful? Oh, yes, I will make you useful.
Noodles, bring the noodles. Hurry.
Here, you. You, bring the noodles, quick.
I am busy.
Stay out of my way until I finish my work. Then we shall eat.
Yes, we shall eat together.
Alone and in private.
Here. Soup noodles, are they ready? Come.
Where are the pigeon's eggs?
These are the fish.
Have you not finished yet? It's almost time to serve them.
Fine duck. Gravy. Gravy for the duck.
Mushrooms. Where are the mushrooms?
- These are not fine enough. - The fish.
Noodles. More noodles, hurry.
You fool. Do not burn the sauce.
The crabmeat. Cut it fine.
I have said stay out of my way.
So you have eyes only for the food, not for me, huh?
Very well, if you are so greedy, take some of the duck.
Go on, take it.
Eat it.
No. No, little one, it would be my head if I were to let you have any of that.
Here, now, take these. Serve them while they're hot.
I have your own word for it, little one.
The hungrier you are, the better it is for me.
Duck.
Duck, swimming in its own juices.
I went to great trouble to get them and have them cooked to your orders, sirs.
The wine for the duck, where is it?
Wine?
Well, it will be served soon, I have ordered it.
- Order it again. - Yes, great one.
He sweats a great deal, even for a Chinese.
He will sweat even more tonight.
We will amuse ourselves a little with him before we make him talk for us.
Excellency, admiral, major, captain, please.
Be patient, little one.
Now, they call these shrimp? I asked for fresh shrimp.
Here now.
You would not be leaving before you have eaten.
I was weary of waiting. I would eat elsewhere.
- You will not... - Where is the wine?
- The wine will come later. I am trying to... - That woman! Stop her. Stop her.
Stop her. That woman. Stop that woman.
Do not let her get away. Stop. Stop her.
- You. You frightened her away. - How long has she been in this kitchen?
Why the difference? A woman like that is too good for you.
Now neither of us will have her.
Was she...?
Call the guard. Call the guard.
Family.
Call the guard.
Chinaman!
What is it?
The enemy...
...was poisoned.
They blame me.
Go to your father. Take children. Quick.
- Quick, quick. - No. No, I cannot.
Who did this?
Go.
Our kinsmen are not agreed among themselves.
Some say kill Wu Lien at once.
I say kill Wu Lien. Yes, kill him and let me do it.
Heaven will lead me to the place and time and heaven will put power in my hand.
Do not say heaven this and heaven that.
If we kill, let us not say it is heaven who bids it.
It is not heaven's will that men kill each other.
We know better. You lie dead with your ancestors...
...instead of living. - How could you have borne such a son?
- How could you have fathered him? - Wu Lien is of our family.
It is our one hope that he cannot bring himself to destroy us.
But we must be sure.
My mother, my father, it is your daughter.
I will go.
- Mother. Mother. - What is it?
My husband is dead.
And so poison was put into the food of the high enemy officials by someone...
...and they blamed my husband for it and killed him.
- The enemy killed him? - They shot him.
And he came to me holding the last of his life inside him with his hands.
He lived only for his family, and now he is dead.
- He was so good. - I have been cheated of my pleasure.
You were there today, Jade. You saw him. And now he's dead.
My husband is gone and I'm a widow.
Poison is a woman's weapon.
Yes, it is.
And it was I who used it.
I thought so.
I saw the look that passed between you and my mother.
You said we must be sure.
I was sure.
He would have betrayed us.
I would not have killed him had I thought he would not.
You did not kill him.
The enemy did.
No.
No, I killed him as surely as I'm now here.
And he was one of ours.
It was right that he should die.
And will you hate me?
Why would I hate you?
I am so thin.
My flesh is so hard.
My face is dark and not like a woman's face.
You do not look as you did when I married you, it is true.
Would you have married me then if I had looked as I do now?
Doubtless, I would not.
But I myself was not the same man that I am now.
And what pleased me then would not please me now.
- Do I please you now? - You do.
As always, this feeling between us...
...we can return to it from anything.
And then summer was gone.
And the grain had kept its promise.
Again, the old ones waited for the return of Jade and her husband...
... who'd been summoned to the meeting place in the hills.
Someone comes.
It is our children, home from the hills.
- Well, then, you are back. - Father, Mother.
- You are well. - Well enough.
You are in time to help us harvest.
If we are clever, we can pass this winter safely.
The crop is good this year and the grain lies heavy in the hand.
Yes.
This field would feed many people.
Father, will you call the heads of the village?
We have a task for them to do.
A meeting? But there is a danger in a meeting while it is still light.
Tell them to gather at the first hour of the darkness.
There is a thing we must do, and at once.
The enemy will never be defeated if we feed him...
...but without our food, he will starve.
- I will not destroy food nor my house. - It's too much.
- It's against the law of man to do it. - It is the task the high command has set.
You must burn all you have and leave only the ashes behind you.
Can it be that you, my son, ask this of me and our kinsmen?
I ask it that the enemy may be destroyed.
Not only do we feed them but we stay here as their work animals.
What we hear are the words of a young fool.
I, for one, will not listen to any more.
I will not burn my house, nor leave what I have.
But we... We resist here.
We keep what food we can from the enemy...
...and we kill him how and when we can.
- It is enough. - It is not enough.
- Do you not love your country? - Love my country?
You say that to me? Do I not love this earth and is this earth not my country?
Though I die, I stay with it.
Can a man love his country better than that?
But, my father, this earth is only your country...
...in peacetime when there is freedom.
I know only this. We must hold the land.
You will hold only a handful of dead soil.
You will lose your whole country doing it.
- I will not listen. - Ling Tan is right as always.
Yes, we will not leave our land. We will hold it.
Now, what's wrong with all these long faces?
We have failed.
Our kinsmen and our father among them have refused our plan.
- You will not do as you're told to do? - I will not, nor will the other kinsmen.
There's an answer. Hold a gun at their heads and make them do it.
- It must be their own will. - The old should be allowed no will.
The old and the new again. There must be some meeting.
There's no meeting what is dead and what is alive.
Father and men like him grow too old and have walked too long.
Others need the room they take.
You may not strike me.
I should beat you.
Killing and love of killing, that is all you know.
Yes, but I know it well. These are other times.
And I can kill you as well as any other.
Yes, you can kill me.
I think you can kill anyone now.
But I will kill no more.
- Come back here. - I will not.
I've eaten enough foolishness in this house, and for the last time.
I must go with him.
You will find us in the hills, for you will follow us.
Happiness in this family is over.
Nothing is left to anyone...
...if the old can no longer look to the young for obedience.
I have come to this.
I will not grieve the day they tell me my third son is dead.
He has become the sort of man I hate and fear most.
Such men will not allow peace in the world.
War springs from them as fire does from tinder...
...and is their pleasure in their life.
Such men should die for the good of all.
You blame your son for what he is.
Who should I blame, then?
It was his own arm he raised against me and his own voice.
You cannot blame him.
Has his life been as it should?
Has he had peace to live and find a wife?
Have sons of his own?
No, he put the will he would have used...
...into another thing: The will to kill.
So changed from the boy who wretched at the sight of the first dead...
...that he would strike his own father.
Well, are we not all changed?
Can we get our old selves back if the devils are not driven out soon?
Can you?
You...
You hate to kill above all else.
Yet you have killed...
...as skillfully as you once tilled the land. - I will not hear this.
But you shall hear it. And our mother, has she not changed?
Now she runs, takes up her hoe and buries the enemy...
...as though the human flesh were animal.
Can she get back to the old way? Can she forget what she's done?
And your sons, they all kill. Your third son because he has come to love it.
Your eldest because it's the easiest thing to do and my...
Your second son because he must. But we all kill.
We kill and kill again. Can you deny this?
No, no, I cannot.
I've learned to hold a gun and fire it from the doorway.
And then go in and feed my son.
And what is the child eat into himself with the food?
Look at him. Look at him.
Do not turn away.
Even now your grandchild sharpens his little teeth on an empty shell...
...and does not hate the taste of gunpowder.
He's young still. His mind, at least, is untouched.
He can be saved and taught a decent way to live...
...if the enemy is driven from our country.
What will become of him if this horror goes on?
How can I teach him honesty when he must lie and cheat to live?
How can I teach him mercy when he must either kill first or be killed?
How can I teach him faith in mankind...
...when he sees nothing but distrust and when even in his own family are traitors.
- Am I to blame for these things? - You're not.
But you will be to blame, we'll all be to blame...
...unless we defeat the Japanese and drive them from this country...
...and prevent them from ever doing this again.
How will you answer your son when he asks you why you left our land?
I will tell him...
I will tell him it was to save him and his family...
...and his whole country.
You had no...
I cannot...
For a cloud covers my mind.
What will you do now, my son?
We will join our brothers in the hills where at least we can fight on.
We will leave this house during the last hours of the darkness before dawn.
Here is food for your journey.
We are glad you have come.
It would have been a bitter thing if you had not.
If you can wait, we will go with you.
Go with us?
Yes, I will burn my fields and my house and go with you.
Do my ears hear what you are saying, old man?
They hear what we must do, for the cloud is now gone from my mind.
I have spoken to all our kinsmen in the village...
...and told them the things you told me.
I gave them the hour that I would fire my house...
...and asked them to do the same thing.
- But will they? - I do not know.
It is a great deal to ask of them, and against their natures.
But what will become of me and my children?
You will go and take your children to where my sons are in the hills.
- The son of Neighbor Shen can guide her. - Yes. We will meet you there.
And you will take our son too.
These things will mark our land...
...so when we come back we can prove it is ours and claim it.
What nonsense is this?
In a while, these things will be ashes, so, what matter how they look now?
Would you bury a friend without first arranging him decently?
In these rooms, your father and his father before him died.
And our children were born here and should die here.
I helped you dig once, now you help me.
- A worry has struck me. - What now, woman?
What if the stranger who walks on the other side of your land...
...finds these things and steals them?
- He will not steal from us. - How can you know that?
I see clearly now, and for the first time.
Third cousin once said that there is one sun and one moon for all.
If that is true, all share the sun and moon...
...why should we not also all share the earth?
This valley is not the world but only part of the world.
And there are others like me whose faces I have never seen.
Elsewhere, there are men who love peace...
...and long for good and who will fight to get these things.
So the stranger is no longer a stranger to me but a man like me.
If I could but know him.
If I could but see him.
What good to see him if you could not speak?
You would not need speech.
If what you wish is the same, there would be understanding between you.
Yes, that is true.
Somehow tonight, I feel that there is a power sweeping around the world...
...bringing us all together with that stranger.
- And I, too, feel it, my father. - So do I.
- Why am I left out of this? - It is time now, my father.
- Shall I fire the house? - No.
Your mother and I will do this.
We will fire the east field first, then.
Leave the north fields for the last, so that we may escape that way.
Look back once, old woman.
Then look back no more.
Keep to the hill road.
My father, look.
Can it be even one of our kinsmen is with us?
It is only a lantern.
No. No, it is a fire.
- And there's another. - And another.
- Can it be? The whole village? - It is, old woman. We are not alone.
- I'm weary, my lord. - But you are not bruised as yet.
Why can you not come with us?
No, my mother. My place is here with my brothers.
The enemy fears to come here. My sister will be safe and have food.
I think it best. Our road ahead will be hard, old woman. And our daughter...
My father, I have seen what you have done, and the others also.
I am ashamed.
No more than I, my son.
Well, then, I would have you take your place of command...
...as head of our family once more.
I think there is now another command, even above that.
We have each been told what we must do, and we will do it.
- You that our young will stay here and fight. - And you, Father?
I would be where these hands can be used.
I and my old woman will go into free China...
...and raise food to fill your bellies while you fight.
Let us go, then, while the strength is still in us.
There is a thing.
If one of us lives, he must go back one day to claim the land.
I so charge you all.
If you live, you must do this.
My wife and I will walk a little way with you.
We would see you out of sight.
At this moment we part, we are closer than ever before.
When will this one begin to read?
As soon as he can be taught.
He will learn quickly, for he is the hope of us all.
His eyes are open.
Make sure that the one who teaches him has his eyes open also.
We will do that. We do it now.
Take your grandchild with you.
Yes, my father, take him with you.
Care for him and teach him.
He will be as our own.
What else? For that is what he is.
So it came about that while Ling Tan left the land behind him...
... he did not leave hope.
For he carried it with him in Jade's child.
That child so truly, the seed of the dragon.