The Last Emperor Page #3

I've got a suitcase,

and a ticket to England.

I'm going to Oxford University.

Your Majesty, if you get married

you will become the master

of your own house.

A wedding might be a more

practical way to escape.

Why did you never get married,

Johnston?

The secondary consort

welcomes the Empress greets

the secondary consort.

You are doing everything very well.

Thank you.

I rehearsed many times.

What is His Majesty thinking?

I was thinking, if I was the real emperor,

I would become the ruler of China now.

And what would the Emperor do,

if he could really rule?

I would change everything.

Even the way we get married.

Is the Emperor against arranged

marriages?

It is humiliating not to choose

whom you marry!

Even I was not allowed

to choose.

In another year or two.

His Majesty will be

taller than me.

Is it true the Emperor has a suitcase

under his bed and is going to Oxford?

Will the Emperor take Wan Jung

with him?

Perhaps he would like to

see my face before he decides.

Yes, the Emperor would like to

see the face of the Empress.

It is the Emperor who must

remove the kait'ou.

I also had a tutor like Mr, Johnston.

Miss Windsor. She's American.

Miss Windsor taught me how to

do the dance of the quickstep.

Does the Emperor know hoe to

do the quickstep?

Will you teach me?

Leave us! Leave us!

If Your Majesty thinks it is old

fashioned to make the rain and

the wind with a stranger,

we can be like a modern couple,

to begin with.

A modern couple?

Good night.

Good night.

You must come to Oxford

with me.

I like him!

I'm sure I'm going to like him!

And he will grow up!

Eyes down!

Report your arrival!

Prisoner nine-eight-one

reporting.

Louder!!

Prisoner nine-eight-one

reporting.

Open the door!

Close the door!

Sit down!

Name?!

Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi.

Write it!

Now read that aloud!

We call them

toothpaste and water tap.

The toothpaste prisoner needs to be

squeezed every now and then or else

he forgets, to keep confessing.

The water tap man needs one good

hard twist before he starts.

But them everything comes out.

Now, you're an intelligent person.

I'm sure you understand me.

Good.

Then we will begin.

Why do you think you are

in here, nine-eight-one?

I'm accused of being a traitor a collaborate

and a counter-revolutionary.

It's not an accusation!!

You are a traitor, you are a collaborator and

you're a counter-revolutionary!

Did you write this?

And you call it a confession?

This is noting but a list of dates!

A child's fairy tale!

What do you want me to confess?

You know what you did and

what others did.

So why don't you

volunteer the information?

I don't understand.

We don't tell people what to confess.

We already know everything about you.

I...

Go on.

I wanted reforms.

What did you what to reform?

Everything.

Cut off my queue.

Your majesty! Please!

It's heavy!

The emperor before me was murdered

because he wanted to reform the empire.

Is that not so, Mr, Johnston?

Yes, Your Majesty. Probably.

Well, let us see if they will kill me for

reforming the Forbidden City.

Lord Chamberlain!

I'm appointing

Mr, Johnston's friend,

the poet and scholar,

Chin Hsiao Hsiu,

to be the new Lord Chamberlain.

I want him to supervise a detailed

inventory of the imperial storerooms!

So that we can learn exactly

how much has been stolen!

Can I sleep here?

I'm frightened.

You're brave.

Are you not frightened?

I'm excited.

I don't want to escape anymore.

I want to rule.

Kiss me.

Can I stay with you as well?

Get in. Get in.

I used to play a game with the eunuchs.

Trying to guess who is who.

Now I can't see you!

Jung!

Wan Jung?

When Hsiu?

Come underneath the sheet with us.

Your Majesty!

The storeroom's on fire,

Your Majesty!

What are they carrying?

Their organs.

Whatever their crimes, they can't

be deprived of the right to

be buried as whole men.

Well?!

I have forgot what

I was saving.

You're wasting our time!

We want to know about the Japanese.

How did your friendship

with the Japanese begin?

Who introduced you?!

When?!

Hmm, I think it was... it was 1924.

Parliament had been dissolved again.

The president had fled.

At first, I thought it was just another a

coup d'etat by just another warlord.

Only this time it was different.

This time it was my turn.

Fifteen, love

Play.

Thirty, fifteen.

The rotten government of

the republic is in flight!

Now we shall remove the foreign

stench of the Manchurian rats who

still hide in the Forbidden City.

Mr, Pu Yi and his family have been given

one hour to leave the Forbidden City.

They will be escorted

to the home of his father.

and remain there under guard as state

prisoners until further notice!!

What are you all looking at?

What are you standing there for?

You always wanted to leave

the Forbidden City.

Now you're got an hour to park.

So, go! Go!

I always thought I hated it here.

Now, I'm afraid to leave.

Do you think they will kill me?

You must do as they say, Your majesty,

while I try to reach the British embassy.

They will give you asylum there.

I'm sure will.

Chang, take my car to the South gate!

I want to drive His Majesty.

Your Majesty!

Please, Your Majesty!

What? But you didn't go to

the British embassy, did you?

You ended up at the Japanese embassy.

The Japanese were the only people

prepared to help me.

Help you for nothing?

Japan has an emperor.

We're almost the same age.

I thought it was kindness.

At the same time I realized that

for many Chinese I was alien.

Simply because I'm Manchurian.

There was even an anti-Manchurian

league who wanted to assassinate me!

So, I want to live in Tientsin.

It was a nice provincial town

with a big port.

In those days, we had a large,

international settlement.

The Japanese thought it would

safer for me there.

Were the Japanese paying

for you in Tientsin?

Oh! No.

I had to rent a villa,

The Villa Chan, and it was very expensive.

So were the bodyguards.

I spent a lot of money in Tientsin.

Did you still believe in a restoration

of the imperial system?

Others did.

They were later caught and exiled.

I can't remember how much jade

and jewelry they made me

spend to buy the friendship of some warlord

or some white Russian general.

And what else did you spend

your money on?

Oh, I was never tired of buying pianos,

watches, radios...

As long as they were foreign!

Of course.

Anything Western was good.

Especially Wrigley's chewing gum,

Bayer aspirin and cars.

While you were in Tientsin, most

of China came under the control

of General Chiang Kie Shek,

the so-called Nationalists,

the Kuomintang.

What were your relations with them?

None.

I felt useless in Tientsin.

I was twenty-one.

I dreamt of going to the West.

I became a playboy.

Am I blue. Am I blue.

Ain't these tears in my eyes

telling you am I blue?

You'd be too If each plan with

your girl done fell throught

was a time I was her only one.

But now I'm the sad and lonely one.

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