- Good day, Miss Johnson. - Beautiful day.
That's enough, please. Thank you.
Ah!
- Mother, this be Culum Struan, once heir to Noble House. - Culum.
My pleasure, ma'am. I've never thought of myself as that.
Still, it was true, lad.
And if there be ought left when your father pays his bills...
it'll be left to you.
I hear you're a God-fearing lad.
Though I'm no friend of your father, I'm pleased to meet you proper.
- Oh, Tyler. - Well.
It's best the boy knows the truth.
And whatever he holds against me for defeating his father...
I expect the auction today to be done fair.
It will be, I assure you.
And this be my sister Tess.
Culum Struan.
- It is my honor, miss. - Mr. Struan.
The Tai-Pan asked my father...
to bring along the sight drafts he holds against Noble House.
Has he decided not to bid?
I don't know. I know that he wants the knoll badly...
but I hope he will not bid.
- Mary. - Tai-Pan.
Is Quance paintin' your portrait?
No.
Well, Dirk, champagne?
Well, you always did have a style about you...
even in defeat.
I'm honored that you've come.
Mrs. Brock. Tess.
You too, Gorth.
Now, Tyler, I wonder if you'd do me the courtesy...
to let me see the sight drafts you say you hold against Noble House.
I don't say. They're here for your own eyes.
Check them against the ledger, Mr. Vargas.
One million, two hundred thousand, Mr. Vargas.
Make sure you add them right.
Prawns are right tasty, Dirk.
You can tell your cook he'll have a job with the new owner.
I'll pass the message along.
Now if you can free your hand, I'd like you to sign this receipt for me.
- What's that for? - All correct, Mr. Struan.
I've decided to pay in cash.
I assume that's acceptable.
Don't you pull one of your damn tricks on me.
Captain Orlov, please.
Haul away, lads.
- [ Crowd Gasping, Murmuring ] - [ Man ] He's done it.!
It's all been weighed.
But there's a scale if you wish to check the amount.
[ Lights Match ]
God rot you to hell, Struan.
- Gorth! - [ Glass Shatters ]
Get your bully boys ashore on the double, armed!
Every heathen pirate in Asia will be on our backs.
Captain Glessing...
I'm asking your marines to guard this till I get it safely aboard a clipper.
Aye, Mr. Brock. It'll be my pleasure, sir.
Buy yourself a coffin .
Mr. Brock! Mr. Brock!
Let me tell you this!
You do that auction fair, or no man'll save thee--
not thy father, not anyone.
And I'll have that knoll.
If he tries to outbid me, I'll use his own silver to drive him back to bankruptcy.
You tell him that.
Brock and Son will be the taipans.
[ Pounding Gavel ]
And the last lot--
1 1 2-B.
- The bids will open at £ 1 00. - Wait, wait, wait.
What do you mean, the last lot? What about the knoll?
Aye, the knoll.
The knoll has already been purchased.
[ Murmuring ]
- Purchased by whom? - By me for the church.
Captain Glessing agreed to the deed.
One pound a year. A church will be built on the knoll.
- It will belong to all. - You knew that land was for Noble House.
The knoll belongs to the house of God.
You dare to cross me on this?
- [ Chuckling ] - Oh, shut up, Brock!
Tell Culum I want him on his knoll.
- Mr. Struan, I'm sure he only meant to do good. - I want him alone!
- Honorable Tai-Pan, the boy-- - Tomorrow morning.
[ Brock ] Thy days are numbered, lad.
You know how to make enemies on all sides.
The view's extraordinary, do you not agree?
- If the church is not built on the knoll-- - I know all about the church.
I'm not afraid of ya.
- You can kill me if you like, but you'll hang for it. - You think I'd kill ya?
When I came here, you were God to me.
Now I think you be the devil. I know you were a murderer and worse.
Come here.
- Sit down. - I'm all right standin'.
There's a wondrous land across that water, Culum.
A strange, silent world that stretches for leagues and leagues...
like an unsailed sea, and more people than we could ever dream of.
- They hate us. - Aye, some do.
I feel I was meant to bring them to us and us to them.
About the church...
I want you to understand that I was not defying you.
It was the only way. I know.
With all that silver, Brock would have slaughtered us.
I couldn't have stopped it.
- The knoll was a matter of face. - And you weren't angry?
Oh, aye, I was... at first.
But then I saw it saved me, and it gave you face.
But you lost face.
Oh, aye. But I've enough, and to spare.
Now, why be I the devil?
You trade in opium. You smuggle.
- You've done it for years. - Aye. And what did you think I did?
I thought you traded goods from England for tea from China.
The emperor will not let us sell goods from England...
yet he demands silver for his tea.
And if we paid in silver, it would bankrupt England in a year.
So we sell opium to the Chinese for their silver and give it back to them for tea.
That's how the China trade works.
- Opium for tea? - Aye. Why not?
- I didn't invent opium, nor the trade. - Aye.
You did not invent adultery either, but that doesn't make it right.
Culum, you do not understand.
How old is Gordon?
- Nineteen or 20. - He's my age.
And he's your son also.
And you sold his mother to Chen Sheng when you tired of her...
- and bought yourself a new mistress. - I did not sell her.!
I gave her away with a dowry.
She became Chen's third wife, and she is respected.
And then you bought a new, younger woman.
Culum, I've not been livin' in Throgmorton Street.
- This is the custom here. - Mr. Brock has one wife.
Brock's wife is here!
Your mother spent one year in Macao...
and then went home never to return.
Culum, I want you to take over from me.
I need to be in London to stop Brock's maneuvers.
And I want to be your friend.
You are my father.
There is nothin' I can do about that.
But I choose my friends.
- Tillman. - Sorry to arrive uninvited, Struan...
- but Shevaun insisted. - Shevaun?
It's an old American custom to wish a new house well.
- You're both very welcome. - We cannot stay.
- But we brought some gifts for the house... - Aye.
to bring luck.
Some bread, baked by my own hands.
- Your own hands? - Yes.
Some salts...
wine...
and something I found in the market in Macao.
It's most unexpected. I'm very grateful.
Well, now that we've done our duty, we'll be off.
You must stay for some sherry.
Oh, no. Uncle's right.
We've intruded enough.
[ Gasps ]
I'll look forward to seein' you at the ball.
Well, I hear men are placin' bets...
- on the winner of your prize. - So I've heard.
Were it not partial of me to do so...
I can assure ya where my money would be.
[ Chuckles ]
Ah. Tea.
Ay-ya!
That maggoty-drawers dung-heap doxy is after you to marriage her!
Marry, not marriage. And how do you know? You did not even see her.
What for should I work over plans of house god-rotting hour after hour...
to see and not to be seen?
Kiss the hand, huh?
What for you no kiss my hand, ay-ya?
What for you linger with cow eyes?
Ay-ya. Mens.
Men, not mens.
Men!
[ Mimicking Shevaun ] "I am told mens are placin' bets...
- on the winner of your prize.'' - [ Chuckling ]
And you stand there and eat up her bosoms!
What for my bosom you not stare at, ay-ya?
- May-may, I do. I do, May-may. - [ Knocking ]
Mass'er, where you want these?
Ay-ya.! [ Screams ]
All right, lass! Two's fine, but three's extravagant!
May-may, it cost the earth.! It's from England.!
Isn't this splendid?
You look very beautiful, I must say.
[ Indistinct ]
Ah, look at them. French, German, Russian, American.
They were all forbidden in China, but now they can land here, trade here.
Oh, it's a glorious night, Mary Sinclair.
Well, it had to be. I knew in my China bones...
it was my fate to make it be no matter what.
It may have its price.
I tell you, out here miles from home...
more things can happen between a boy and a girl at one ball like this...
than in a year of normal life.
And how would you know? This is your home.
Perhaps.
When the fleet returns to India...
Captain Glessing's staying on as commander of the harbor.
- He's asked for my hand. - Really?
It may only be the ball, but I'm sorely tempted.
- He's a fine man. - Yes.
But do you think the Mary you know would be a fine wife for him?
If you marry him proper...
he would be a blessed man, whatever the past.
I love this one. It's my favorite.
My God.
She does not give you much of a choice when it comes to judging.
Oh, Manoel, you're like the rest. You're all transfixed by her tits.
True, they are impeccable...
but the contest is for the best dressed...
not the best undressed.
[ Gorth ] I think we could have a marriage.
- You're mad. - Mad?
I've been encouraging it everywhere I could.
They need not marry.
Just be engaged.
No, they should marry.
She loves him, I know.
And he her.
That's enough to overcome whatever she might have done.
By the way...
the Tai-Pan wants to go back to England.
And if he runs into money troubles...
he'll have to.
He's going to leave Culum in charge.
Before he knows what's happened...
it'll be Brock, Struan and Sons.
- How are you so close to Culum? - I told him...
our fathers may hate...
but it would be un-Christian for us to do the same.
Instead of destroying each other, we should be friends.
- And Culum's a right religious lad. - [ Mrs. Brock ] And he be right.
Struan has always had the most fantastic joss.
But in the end, God be givin' me thee, Gorth...
and him only Culum.
Thee be my joss.
May-may, you sent for me at a very poor time.
Supreme lady say you sit, please.
God's blood!
I mean, it's very nice.
[ Sobbing ]
May-may!
May-may.!
May-may, open the door!
[ Sobbing Continues ] Forgive me, master! Forgive me!
May-may, you took me for surprise.
May-may. May-may.
May-may, stop it! Stop it!
Stop.
Wait.
I fix .
- I fix . - All right.
[ Sobbing Hysterically ]
May-may-- Put that knife down, May-may!
May-may--
Did ya expect to come to the ball?
No.
No, it was only for you to see.
- [ Sobbing ] - Stop it, lass.
It's all right.
It was just a surprise.
Please, you go, mass'er.
All right now.
Never mind. [ Indistinct ]
No worry.
Watch her close.
- I'll send Ah Sam to help. - Yes, mass'er.
Yes, mass'er.
- [ Sobbing Continues ] - [ Chinese ]
She'd make a fine wife.
In England, she'd do a man no end of, uh, good socially.
Yes. Expensive, but useful.
Captain Glessing seems to be enamored with Mary.
If someone of your stature were to mention Shevaun...
I feel sure he'd realize he was missing a great opportunity.
I know all about Glessing and Mary...
and I would not like to hear...
that anyone I knew-- knew well--
interfered with their own decision.
Tai-Pan, my dear fellow, it's time for thejudging.
Very good, Aristotle.
Well, you were the life of the party. What's the matter?
It's May-may. She's lost face with me.
Oh, it is the Chinese curse.
You'll have to beat her. You must play the man.
Mr. Quance!
Great thunderballs of death!
'Tis herself, my blessed lady!
Mr. Quance,you were due back in England three years ago.!
'Twas only by the grace of St. Patrick...
that I found passage to this immoral lair!
Now take me hand, for 'tis time for you to say good night...
and we be on our way.
Mrs. Quance, Aristotle has a task to perform.
- Yes. - We be on our way.
- Say good night, me boyo. - [ Laughter]
Good night, Tai-Pan. Remember: beat her!
[ Applause ]
- And now, we're without a judge. - Tai-Pan?
As a stranger for the very first time in Hong Kong...
may I have that honor?
- The czar's fleet to the rescue. - Of course.
Ladies and gentlemen, as you well know...
- there is a contest to bejudged this evening. - [ Applause ]
I'm afraid our immortal Quance is otherwise engaged.
But His Highness, the Archduke Zergeyev...
has volunteered to make the £1 ,000 choice.
[ Applause ]
I believe this belongs to you, Miss Brock.
[ Applause ]
Very nice.
This slave begs her master to sell her.
You're not a slave, and you'll not be sold.
Please to sell... to anyone, to whorehouse, to another slave.
You're not for sale.
This slave have no face before her lord and owner.
She cannot live here.
Get up.
[ Sighs ]
You have not offended me.
You surprised me.
European clothes do not suit you.
I will not sell ya.
But if you dinna want to stay...
you're entirely free to leave.
Please to sell. Until owner sell, a slave cannot go.
By God.
You are a miserable slave.
I've a mind to sell you into the street of blue lanterns.
But who'd want to buy a dirty baggage like you? I dinna ken.
I paid good silver for ya...
and I was cheated, by God.
- Am I not good to ya? Eh? Generous? - Yes, lord.
You thievin', miserable slave. I'm gonna whip ya till my arm hurts.
Lie down there.!
Go on!
You dare to get clothes made behind my back!
[ Sobbing ] No whip too hard!
I'm three months with child!
You dare to wear them without my approval!
You worthless, dirty slave!
[ Sobbing Continues ]
How I put up with you these years, I dinna ken!
Stop your wailin'!
Come, remove my shoes.
Is it true? You be with child?
Go wash yourself. And bring me tea, you motherless wretch.
Quickly!
[ Door Closes ]
[ Culum ] Gorth. Thank God.
I want to ask your father for Tess's hand.
Go home, Tess.
Good night.
You look all hot and bothered.
[ Chuckles ] I know what you need.
Come on.
You be with child?
Well, if that be the case, I may give you another chance.
Yes, please. Please, forgive.
But it better be a son.
Now, get into bed. I'm cold.
In time, I may be forgiving you, lass.
In time.
[ Culum ] I really do not think I should.
[ Gorth ] Don't worry, Culum. It's no sin here.
It's only trade. The girls need the business.
Evening, girls.
No. No!
You've got to know the ropes, Culum.
- It's expected. - [ Laughs ]
And, believe me, you won't mind learning.
Will he, lads?
Oh, to be a virgin like Culum.
[ All Laughing ]
- Did you do it? - Yes.
- But it was a sin. - Ah, well, you be used to sin.
Well, at least now he'll know what to do when he marries young Tess.
Never, by God! He think he be marryin' Tess, but he'll never.
Our Christian Culum is a bit hot in the groin...
and he isn't used to honest drinking.
She's fixed him up with the most poxed whore in all Macao.
He's at it with her right now.
By the time he's finished...
he won't be fit for any woman, and never for Tess!
No. No, listen.
It's all right. You're lovely.
It's just when I felt this locket--
If you could just see her, you'd understand.
I can't.
Plenty good, master.
Me can do special.
Make you want to jig-a-jig. No more charge.
No, listen, I'm gonna pay all the same.
Christ, if I just dinna get sick.
Your boy and mine be like old shipmates.
Aye. They are.
'Tis about Tess I come to see you.
Your boy wants to marry her.
I'm against it...
but the girl and her mother, they talked me into it.
Somehow, I thought they would.
Her dowry will be the richest in all Asia.
- They be marryin' next year. - I'll see ya in hell first.
[ Chuckles ] That be later, Dirk. That be later.
First, they be marrying.
I know what's in your mind, and Gorth's...
but I'll not let you break Noble House through a girl's skirts.
I hate your guts and I always will...
but she loves Culum, and that's the mortal truth.
She'll get over it.
You don't love your Culum the way I love my Tess.
I'll tell you this. You give them a fair wind and an open sea...
and I'll be doin'likewise.
You know, when I was a cabin boy...
and you were a bully of a third mate...
I despised ya.
But by the Lord, I never dreamed you'd sink...
to using your own daughter to get something you're not man enough to take on your own.
I'll use the devil to break you.
And by God...
break you I will.
I know what's puttin' you in bed.
You eat too many prawns.
You're not mad at me for coming back to the old house, are you?
No, if you want the baby here in Macao, that's fine.
Maybe next month, no sick. We go to Hong Kong.
- Aye. - Mass'er. Mass'er.
Mass'er, young Mass'er Culum outside.
He look plenty sour.
- Now you sad again. - I have to get him back.
I've tried every way, but Gorth has some hold on him.
- It is no good killing son of Brock. - Why not?
You risk vengeance of insane barbarian law...
what demands eye for eye, whoever has eye, which is crazy mad.
- No, don't get up. - I walk with you very careful.
Do not argue. You make me more sick.
Now, my counsel is...
have fantastical quick marriage here-- Culum to Tess.
That's out of the question. I have nothin' against Tess...
but with a little time he'll find another girl.
Oh, I agree very heatedly, Tai-Pan.
But I seems to memory that barbarian custom...
which for once follows wise Chinese custom:
girl comes to house of husband.
Ay-ya?
So sooner Brock girl marries...
sooner Gorth lose control over simple Culum.
I'm not so sure. Married, Gorth will feel he's even more right to interfere.
By God, I am!
What for is your son so sick crazy in the head?
He needs to bed her fantastical bad.
That's what's making him crazy sick. He's frantical hot.
So he listens with tongue hanging out to every word...
that crazy Gorth say.
Please, Tai-Pan, let him have girl.
Then will he spend hour after god-rot hour...
listening to brother Gorth?
By God, no!
He spends every minute in bed...
playing bosoms...
exhausting himself making babies.
Mmm.
And he detest interruption...
from you or from Gorth, hy-ya?
We're comin' into the season of storms.
Pretty soon you'll have to wear your hair in pigtails like I do.
I've been talkin' to Orlov.
He believes tea will grow in India. They have the same rains and the same heat.
Aye, probably.
The Chinese will not let you take seeds or plants.
It's an imperial edict, and death that one.
With enough daring and a little squeeze, we could get hundreds of plants.
Gordon has already got dozens.
Are you suggesting we bribe and smuggle and steal?
Well, I'd rather do that than live by smugglin' opium.
- Have you discussed this with Gorth? - Not yet.
I'm sending you to Hong Kong this afternoon.
You're to go in Morning Cloud.
And I'm puttin' Orlov under your orders.
For this trip, you'll be master.
- Is that so important? - To me, yes.
Do I have time to say good-bye to Tess?
Aye. You can catch the noon tide.
Since you're so set on it, lad, I've changed my mind about Tess.
Only it seems a pity Brock insists on you waitin'a year to marry.
Aye. 'Tis, but he will not bend.
To be truthful, I'm surprised you've not considered...
taking your lives into your own hands.
- Elope? - Aye. Why not?
No, I suppose Brock would be furious, and certainly Gorth.
It's a bad idea.
I know it's not necessary...
but I want you to explain to Captain Orlov...
that I'm makin' you absolute master.
And by the powers vested in me...
I now pronounce you man and wife.
And may God have mercy on us all...
when your father hears of it.
[ Chattering ]
[ Groaning ]
Wait outside, Tai-Pan.
She's all right. Weak, but all right.
I'm sorry about the baby.
It was a boy, but it had no chance.
She'd like to see you.
Bad joss lose baby, Tai-Pan.
Unworthy slave very sorry.
Unworthy slave is not to worry.
She is good joss.
How else did she come to Tai-Pan?
Oh. Dinna scare me with all my past disastrous.
'Tis not fair, laddie.
I want your son terrifical bad.
I know, lass. I know.
You sleep now, lass.
If you hurry up and get better, I'll give you a hundred taels of silver.
You give me huge face, Tai-Pan.
Oh, mind.
May-may more gorgeous after tragedy.
Going to make you fantastical happy.
[ Laughter]
Struan!
You planned it.
You told Orlov to marry 'em!
Our Tess wedded to that pox-ridden bastard!
[ Man ] No.! Stop them.! Stop them.!
- No! - Let me go, for Christ's sake!
He knows! Culum be poxed!
- Culum's not poxed. - He be.!
Everyone knows he was in the whorehouse in Macao.!
- I paid for it myself! - Let him go, lads.
This is no place to fight!
Tomorrow at dawn.
- You be a dead man. - Hire a junk.
I want witnesses and a fair fight.
I choose fightin' irons.
- Look out! - Tai-Pan!
[ Yelling ]
[ Groaning ]
[ Man ] Dear God.
Your blasted joss!
Someday. Someday.
Gorth went for him with a knife.
It wasn't his fault, Tyler.
- We all saw it. - [ Man #2 ] Gorth started it.
Struan?
I want you on your precious knoll that was to be.
You come alone at dawn.
I know now it be God's will.
-Gorth started it, Tyler. - He didn't mean to-- - Be still!
He killed my son.
[ Clanging ]
Hurry! Get inside! Move!
[ Yelling, Chattering ]
You planned the elopement, didn't ya?
I did.
You planned to kill my Gorth.
Gorth chose his fate. We all do, Brock.
Your island is done, Tai-Pan.
We're getting off this blasted rock.
A royal commission's come, and that's my doin'.
That's why I wanted you here.
I should have killed you years ago.
Now, by God, I'll do it.
[ Both Grunting ]
[ Yells ]
[ Grunting Continues ]
[ Groans ]
[ Grunts ]
[ Thunderclap ]
[ Groans ]
[ Screams ]
[ Both Grunting ]
[ Groans ]
You're a fool.
As long as I breathe, you'll not be safe.
[ Thunderclap ]
[ Chinese ]
[ Yelps ]
[ Yelling In Chinese ]
The eye.
The eye of the storm.
We're going into the eye of the storm.
Ay-ya.
[ Gasps ]
Ay-ya.
[ Chattering ]
- Has it stopped? - Yes, it's just a trickle.
Get the tongs. Bring me a coal from the fire.
Get the tongs! I've got to cauterize it. You can be sick later.
Culum, have you seen Captain Glessing?
Tai-Pan! Tai-Pan! Have you seen Mary?
Or Glessing? I must find her.
I caught her maid and whipped the truth out of her.
Mary's a whore!
I must warn Glessing.
He'll never marry a whore of the Chinese!
She'll come back to me!
She has no choice!
Get to shelter, Horatio!
It's comin' back!
No! [ Continues, Indistinct ]
[ Groaning ]
[ Panting ]
[ Groaning ]
Aaah!
- [ Man Groans ] - [ Women Gasp ]
[ All Whimpering ]
[ Thunderclap ]
My God, Tai-Pan! Do not leave me!
Never, lass. I'll never leave thee.
[ Shivering ]
- Where shall we hide? - No hiding from a typhoon.
You ride her out or you do not.
We'll wait for the sun together.
[ Thunderclap ]
Do you not love me, laddie?
You are my supreme lady.
You must laugh when you say that...
or you break my heart.
'Tis no laughin' matter.