The Founding of a Republic was produced to coincide with the 60th anniversary (in 2009) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) winning the Civil War in October 1949. I first saw this movie March 2011.
The film has the largest number of Chinese movie stars in one movie. Many of the top stars were invited to star as leads, supporting characters, or to appear in cameos, such as internationally well known Jackie Chan and Jet Li, whom appear briefly in the film.
The film covers the period between 1946 and October 1949 — well before the infamous failed Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), which are the events most people in the West identify with Mao.
There is seldom any mention in the West of how Mao won the hearts and minds of the hundreds of millions of Chinese that supported the CCP, while distrusting and spurning the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT). This film (regardless of any propaganda that may exist) provides a glimpse of how Mao accomplished this feat.
The mild dose of propaganda that does appear in the film is nothing compared to the propagandized, anti-bourgeois PRC movies of the early 1950s or 60s.
It was because of how Mao won the Civil War (1926 to 1949 with a pause during a portion of World War II) that despite the deep collective scars left by the catastrophes of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, that he retains a strong measure of popular affection in China to this day.
In fact, many born in China prior to the 1980s still consider Mao to be China’s George Washington.
Directors Huang Jianxin and Han Sanping provide glimpses into the key moments during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War and the film was not just glorified propaganda since the Communists are given only one third of the screen time.
More time was given to people like Zhang Lan and Li Jishen, and key members of the China Democratic League. Until I watched this film, I only knew of the KMT and the CCP. I didn’t know there were other Chinese political parties involved.
In addition, Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-Kuo, who later guided Taiwan’s government to become a multi-party democracy (the first direct presidential election was held in 1996 eight years after Ching-Kuo’s death), are not demonized but are played as characters trapped between their responsibilities towards their country and pleasing political factions in the KMT.
The film suggests that the KMT lost because of the political agendas of these factions within the KMT, and not because of the power of the Communists, which was unexpected in a pro-Communist film.
After all, in war there are few if any saints and politics are more complex than most people ever know.
I urge everyone interested in modern Chinese history to see this film especially students in Chinese history classes and/or those majoring in East Asian studies. People that cannot understand Mandarin will be pleased that the movie has English subtitles.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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To my knowledge, the CCP has never really bad-mouthed the KMT or chiang kai shek. In the end, they were fighting for the same cause, to make China strong and rich.
The CCP are grateful to the KMT for trying their best to keep hold of China’s lands in times of peril. Apart from that, Chiang kai shek repeatedly stated that no matter how bad tensions got between the two parties, taiwan would ALWAYS be a part of China.
Nice to see you appreciated this movie. It’s no masterpiece for sure, but a nice and well shot historical movie, with good photography, moving music and good actors (i liked Zhang Guoli version of Chang Kai-shek the most). Interesting also the final part, with the first CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference….established before the People’s Congress) and the choosing of the symbols of the new state (flag, anthem and so on)….
Yes, the flag episode shows that the Party was serious about their job. Too bad it took so long to get it right (I’m not talking of the flag but the Great Leap Forward and The Cultural Revolution). But to be fair, the majority of the Party was not responsible for all of that. Many at the top spoke out and were punished with jail or death.
Yes, but also, many from the base (especially for the Great Leap), like local cadres, were the cause of many of the problems, cause they hid the truth, the damages, and exaggerated production datas to appear good in the eye of superiors (and in a huge country such as China this can lead to disasters). It’s a very multifaceted phenomenon, as is the Cultural Revolution. When it started Mao was already almost 74, large part of the mess was due to Jiang Qing and his friends (Mao had to intervene personally to slow her down in more that one occasion)..as much as Lin Biao, who behind much of the creation of the Mao personal cult, the little red book etc. Also the role of the Red Guards (sometimes out of control…Zhou Enlai had to dispatch the PLA to stop them from loothing also the Forbidden City and other sites) must not be forgotten. Such big socio/political phenomenon rarely are the working of any one only person..we often like to identify one for the sake of simplicity. Mao committed enormous mistakes (of judgment, politica etc.), and his advanced age had probably also started to cloud his judgement, as well as make him more suspicious and less attentive to what was really going on…but the forces at work where large, diverse and often at odds with each other….
I’ve read and heard some of what you say. This series of posts on The Great Leap Forward mentions some of what you say.
http://ilookchina.net/2010/06/21/pbs-communism-the-promise-and-the-reality-part-1-of-6/
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