I came to see you, Your Majesty. To give you bad news.
Something terrible has happened.
The Imperial tombs of our Manchurian ancestors have been attacked and robbed
by troops of the Kuomintang. Chinese soldiers.
A warlord working for Chiang Kai Shek.
The body of the Empress Dowager was hacked to pieces.
Her pearl necklace has become a wedding present from Chiang Kai Shek to his new wife.
Prisoner 981 reporting.
Open the door!
Close the door!
Tell me, nine-eight-one. Do you consider yourself to be Chinese?
Of course.
What is this?
Japan.
And what do you call this part of China?
The Northeast.
And what did you call it as a child?
Manchuria.
Japan invaded Manchuria on September 18th, 1931
and began to set up a puppet state called Manchukuo.
Shortly afterwards, a Japanese delegation paid you a secret visit in Tientsin
to request your collaboration, which you say you refused.
Speak up!
I've already told you. I have told you a hundred times.
Tell us again! Tell us two-hundred times!
I refused to collaborate.
You say you refused, but a month later, on November 10th, 1931
there your are arriving in Manchuria, or should I call it Manchukuo?
Now, according to this so-called confession of yours, you didn't go of your own free will!
You insist that you were kidnapped by the Japanese!
Yes.
And taken to Manchuria by force!
Yes!
Sit down!
Do you remember a man called Reginald Fleming Johnston?
He was your tutor.
Yes.
And a good friend, I believe.
After twenty-eight years in China, Mr. Johnston returned to England.
He became a professor of Oriental studies at London University.
And he wrote a book. It's called Twilight in the Forbidden City,
and it's dedicated to you.
Tientsin 1931.
I'm going to miss you, Johnston.
I shall miss you, Your Majesty.
Do you think a man can become emperor again?
Yes.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
How can we say "Good-bye"?
As we said, "Hello".
Farewell, Mr. Johnston.
Farewell, Your Majesty.
All aboard! All aboard!
Thank you, sir.
Good-bye, Mr. Johnston! We'll never forget you, Mr. Johnston.
Good-bye, Mr. Johnston. Good-bye! Good-bye!
All aboard!
On page four-hundred and forty-nine, Mr. Johnston writes.
The endeavor to make out that the Emperor had been kidnapped by the Japanese is wholly untrue.
He left Tientsin and went to Manchuria of his own free will.
Johnston was a liar!
What did you say? I didn't hear you.
Mr. Johnston had left before I was taken to Manchuria.
He couldn't have known what happened.
Sit down!
Is this your confession, eight-nine-five?
Yes.
According to this account, you pre-packed the man's things on the morning of November 9th!
Isn't it unusual for a man who's kidnapped to have his luggage packed
by his valet the day before he's kidnapped?
This is what you've written, isn't it?
Who told you to pack this man's luggage?
These two stories don't fit, do they?
It was a long time ago. Perhaps I made a mistake.
You are lying!
You are both lying!
Control yourself!
My family was buried alive in Manchukuo.
My mother digged her own grave because of people like them.
Smash the enemies. Smash them forever.
Enough.
These might help you to remember the truth.
What made you write that?
It's the truth.
Chen Pao Shen wishes you a safe journey.
You mean he refuses to say good-bye to me.
He will see me when he comes to my coronation.
You can still choose. You can still change your mind.
I'm the hereditary ruler of the Manchurian people.
There can be no Manchukuo without me.
Do you not see? The Japanese are using you.
I must try to use them.
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria will be condemned by the League of Nations
and by every civilized country on earth!
The Chinese Republic had broken every promise it ever made to me!
Chinese troops desecrated the tombs of my ancestors!
And Chinese troops didn't defend Manchuria from the Japanese!
But Manchuria is still China!
China has turned it's back on me.
Please, don't go.
Manchuria is the richest frontier in Asia!
Coal, oil, railways!
Millions of Chinese immigrants are going there every year!
I'm going to build my country.
If you go, you will betray your country.
Which country?
Johnston was wrong, but he wasn't a liar.
There was no kidnapping!
You went to Manchuria by your own choice, because you wanted to be Emperor again!
You will rewrite your confessions from the beginning!
Guard!
Take this people away!
Out!
Manchuria 1934.
To heaven.
To earth.
Chen Pao Shen is a fool. How could he miss the birth of a new country?
It looks like the inauguration of a factory.
To the moon.
To the sun.
You're an empress again.
What I'm going to be is a pilot!
I'm going to train at a secret base near Yokohama to learn precision-bombing.
I want to bomb Shanghai.
Bomb Shanghai?
I hate China!
I hate you.
The Japanese Army High Command!
Very impressive!
The Japanese Army!
Quickly!
On behalf of the Emperor of Japan, the commander of the Kantong Army
extends his warmest congratulations on the occasion of His Majesty's coronation.
Manchukuo will grow into a bright vision.
Japan will always be on the side of the Emperor.
Uh, may I introduce you? My wife, the Princess Hiro Saga.
Prime Minister Hsiao Hsiu.
Honorable Chang Ching Hui, Minister of Defense.
Monseigneur, Colonna.
The Empress and I accept with great pleasure.
Excuse me, General.
And now Mr. Amakasu. He's the new chief of the Manchuria Motion Picture studies.
Why do you have to spoil this day? Why?
Mr. Amakasu is the most powerful man in Manchukuo.
What are you talking about?
You didn't believe I could be Emperor again, but I am.
You are blind.
Do you know what it means to be an empress?
You are an empress!
Why do you not make love to me anymore?
Because you have become an opium addict.
Opium killed my mother, opium destroyed China.
You can buy opium anywhere in Manchukuo!
Shut up!
In any shop.
Shut up!
Your brother is going to have a child.
We must have a child. We must have an heir!
Emperor Hirohito has officially invited us to Japan.
I'm going alone! You are staying here.
I would never go to Japan.
Then go to your room!
Ten thousand years to His Majesty!
Ten thousand years!
Ten thousand years to His Majesty!
To His Majesty, ten thousand years!
I told you, I hate you.
Only because I give you what you need.
Now we're engaged.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
Good morning, sir.
You forgot my toothpowder.
Oh... yes... sir.
Move him!
Nine-eight-one! Collect your things!
I said, collect your things!
Keep it to the story. That is an order.
Upstairs!
Stop!
Your laces are undone. Do them up!
Thursday, you serve lunch.
Friday, you clean the toilet.
Saturday, you sweep the floor.
I have never been separated from my family.
You'd better get used to it!
It isn't so bad. People get used to anything.
You don't remember me, do you?
I was the Minister of Trade, in Manchukuo.
You were all in Manchukuo.
Now, I'm the cell leader.
It is important to follow the rules here.
No talking during study session!
Manchuria 1935.
Where is your gun, Captain? Where are their swords?
Our weapons have been removed, Your majesty, on order of colonel Yoshioka.
Colonel Yoshioka?
Colonel Yoshioka!
What has happened here? Why has my guard been disarmed?
Yes, it's very unfortunate, Your Majesty.
There have been many changes while you were in Tokyo.
Your Majesty, may I present Masaomi Kobayakawa, the new Japanese ambassador to Manchukuo.
Why is prime Minister Hsiao Hsiu not here to receive me?
The prime Minister has resigned, Your Majesty.
His son been assassinated.
Assassinated?
By communist bandits, Your Majesty.
I must see him at once.
He refuses to see anyone, Your majesty. He has gone to a monastery, far away.
Who are you?
Chang Ching Hui, Your Majesty. Minister of Defense.
Yes, of course.
The council meeting will be at four o'clock, Your Majesty. Before the state dinner.
The Emperor has been asked to sign the following.
After careful consideration
we have decided to nominate the honorable Chang Ching Hui as the new prime minister of Manchukuo.
No.
Today on our return from Japan we wish to speak of something more important.
The future of our friendship with Japan.
This is based on mutual respect,
and respect means equality and independence.
When the two emperors stood together and saluted the two national flags
they recognized that Manchukuo had come of age.
Manchukuo is not a colony, Manchukuo is Manchuria.
The relationship between our two countries is like the relationship of the two emperors.
It is rooted in paternal trust.
In... in the desire to preserve our ancient traditions.
And in a mutual respect for our national identities.
Already we have welcomed the ambassadors of El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Vatican...
Soon I'm sure the other countries would follow.
Zhang Xiao Xu was an idiot.
He thought the open board were there to decrease production.
But that was just propaganda.
What the Japanese really wanted was cash, more production!
Of course, they've gotten rid of him.
Well, I had been a drug abuser all my life, opium, heroin.
I could deal with the green gang in Shanghai, even with Chiang Kai Shek.
That is why the Japanese wanted me to be prime minister.
You were right. I was blind.
I'm going to have a child. The father is Manchurian.
Colonel Yoshioka, Mr. Amakasu!
I did it for you!
His Majesty forgot to sign the appointment of the new prime Minister Mr. Chang Ching Hui!
I didn't forget.
When an Englishman robs someone, Your Majesty, he becomes a gentleman.
If he robs a lot, he becomes a knight.
Do you imagine the British run their Empire as a charity?
If India has to pay for the cost of it's own occupation, so must Manchukuo.
We hope Manchukuo will have an heir. The Empress is expecting a child.
Yes, Your Majesty. We are aware of the situation.
This is the name of the father.
His name is Chang! He is your driver!
All the necessary facts have been recorded. The man will be punished.
The Emperor can't allow his honor to be stained.
The Japanese are the only divine race on Earth.
We will take China, Hong-Kong, Indo-China,
Siam, Malaya, Singapore, and India!
Asia belongs to us!
How long have you been here?
Three years.
You were issued with the same clothes as everyone else.
Why can't you learn to look after yourself?
There have been complaints from your cellmates.
You must learn how to urinate at night without waking them all up!
The way to do it is to urinate against the side of the bucket, not into the middle!
Yes, comrade.
You still think I'm your servant, don't you?
It's the last time, the last time,
This is the last time.
Why do you think Becale has been in prison all this time?
Or haven't you thought about it?
Because he was my servant.
Yes.
Loyalty is a great quality, isn't it?
So do you think it's unjust that your loyal servant is punished for serving you?
I think it isn't a question of justice?
It is a question of justice!
Even the servant has a choice.
Becale had nothing to do with the political decision of Manchukuo
or the crimes that happened around me.
He was the only innocent person there.
Sit down.
Comrade Lee is now a free citizen of the peoples Republic of China.
He's being released today.
You have a train to catch.
This is my wife. We have three children.
You know nothing about me.
Thank you.
For a long time I thought you kept him in prison
because you wanted someone to look after me.
If you went out on the streets of China today and people knew who you were,
somebody would probably try to kill you!
You talk of your past as you are the only one who suffered.
Stop hiding behind your private story.
Write it again! All of it.
We are all pretending. You are just pretending you have changed.
You can't speak like that in here.
That is counter revolutionary talk.
I know who you all are.
You were captain of the imperial guard.
And you become a spy in the palace.
You, the minister of trade.
You are responsible for starvation of Manchukuo.
He... Prime Minister of narcotics.
Shut up! The party teaches us to be new men!
We're working for a new China!
You worked in Amakasu's private office.
You are still the same people! People don't change.
Guard! Guard!
Guard!
And I let it happen.
Guard! Guard!
I let it happen.
The second edict, Your Majesty. Japanese will be the official language in Manchukuo schools.
Your Majesty!
The baby was born dead, Your Majesty.
How is the Empress?
It would be better if she goes to a clinic, somewhere warm.
She's already left, Your Majesty.
Open the door.
With Manchukuo now firmly in their grasp, the Japanese soon controlled most of North China.
By 1937 they were ready to strike South, at the heart of the country.
The attack on Shanghai was one of the first civilian bombing raids in history.
It left thousands homeless, thousands dead.
Three months later, Japanese armies were besieging the provisional capital at Nanking.
And when the city fell, the atrocities began.
Trying to terrorize the rest of China into surrender,
the Japanese High Command ordered a massacre.
More than two hundred thousand civilians were systematically executed.
The world watched in horror, but no help was given.
On December 7th, 1941 Japan attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
There was no warning.
Manchukuo, the Japanese bastion in North China, was still ruled by the puppet emperor, Pu Yi.
But behind the facade of triumph, was a country enslaved.
A country where Japanese experimenting biological warfare were carried out on live human beings.
A country where opium production became the easiest way to finance the war.
Millions of people were deliberately turned into drug addicts.
Nine days after the bomb at Hiroshima, on August 15th 1945
Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan.
It was the first time his voice had ever been heard on radio.
You must get to Tokyo, Your majesty.
You must surrender to the Americans, not the Russians.
The communists will kill everyone!
The Russians have reached Harbin.
We must leave at once.
There is no room in the plane.
No trunks!
Here you go.
The Empress has returned.
Your Majesty, please.
The Empress must not know you have seen her like that.
Your Majesty!
Hurry!
There is no room on the plane, Your Majesty!
The women aren't in danger! We must hurry!
Your Majesty! Your Majesty is leaving now!
Now!
The Russians!
Perhaps you think we are here to teach men to lie in a new way.
Why did you sign every accusation made against you?
I didn't stop you from killing yourself to see you like this...
Someone who signs anything to please his enemies, to please me!
You knew about a lot of things in Manchukuo even the secret agreements.
But you couldn't possibly have known about the Japanese biological warfare experiments in Harbin!
Could you? So why did you sign these papers?
I was responsible for everything.
Your are responsible for what you do!
All your life you thought you were better than everyone else.
Now you think you are the worst of all!
Why can you not leave me alone?
You saved my life to make me a puppet in your own play.
You saved me because I'm useful to you.
Is that so terrible, to be useful?
1959.
Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi!
By order of the supreme people's court,
the war criminal Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, male, fifty-three years old,
of the Manchu nationality, and from Peking,
has now served ten years detention!
As a result of remolding through labor and ideological education during his captivity,
he has shown that he has genuinely reformed!
In accordance with clause one of the Special Pardon Order, he is therefore to be released!
You see, I will end up living in prison longer than you.
Peking 1967.
Long live chief Mao!
The Red Guards!
They are so young.
It's dangerous.
Decision of traitor!
Look, over there Pu Chien, look!
It's the Governor of our prison!
It can't be!
It is! I'm sure it is!
Be careful! Come back!
Comrade. This must be a mistake! I know this man! He is a good man.
Who are you?
I'm a gardener.
Join us, comrade, or buzz off!
But what has he done?
He has been accused.
Accused of what?
- Emperor's lackey! - Revisionist element! - Rotten rightist!
Confess your crimes!
I have nothing to confess.
Kowtow to Chairman Mao!
Confess your crimes!
I have nothing to confess.
Kowtow!
Confess your crimes!
Wait!
He is teacher! He is a good teacher!
You! Get out of here!
You can't do this to him!
Move! You want to be him?
You are wrong! He is s good teacher!
Stop! You are not allowed in there!
Who are you?
I live here! I'm the son of the guardian!
Well, I used to live here, too.
That is where I sat.
Who are you?
I was the Emperor of China.
Prove it!
This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony where the Emperors were crowned.
The last Emperor to be crowned here was Aisian-Gioro Pu Yi.
He was three years old. He died in 1967.