We all know that Genghis Khan, Temüjin, established the Mongol Empire, and conquered most parts of Eurasia Continent in the following years, greatly changed the historical course. In his early years, he suffered much, and the film Mongol tells the story. Mongol, a 2007 Russian semi-historical epic film directed by Sergei Bodrov, stars Tadanobu Asano, Sun Honglei and Chuluuny Khulan. And the film was nominated for the 2007Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as a submission from Kazakhstan.

The filming took place mainly in the People’s Republic of China, principally in Inner Mongolia (the Mongol autonomous region), and in Kazakhstan, because in Mongolia the film got local protests that Mongolia thought that the film would not correctly portray the Mongolian people and its national hero, Genghis Khan. I fully understand this. As I see it, it just tells the story that Genghis khan relies on woman to survive.

First, as a nine-year-old young boy, accompanied by his father Yesügei, Temüjin chooses Börte (Bayertsetseg Erdenebat) as his wife. He promises to return after five years to marry her. Second, Temüjin finds Börte and brings her back to his family later, after escaping from the Merkit tribe. But soon he is attacked, shot and hurt by the Merkit tribemen, Börte whips the horse which Temüjin is on, telling it to go home. Börte is captured by the Merkit leader. Third, a year later, Temüjin gets help from his friend Jamukha of childhood to attack Merkit tribe, only to find that Börte is pregnant. Despite knowing that he is not the father, Temüjin takes the son as his own. Fourth, when Temüjin is sold to a Tangut Garrison Chief as a slave, Börte comes to save him by exchanging belongings with the guards.

The film Mongol intends to explore abduction, kinship and the repercussions of war. But in Mongolia people’s eyes, it that the film tells the story that Genghis khan relies on woman to survive greatly weakens their national hero. “Mongolia will not initiate a war for a woman”, Jamukha says, when Temüjin turns to him for help. What Jamukha says maybe best reveals the idea of most Mongolia people.

Is the Yuan Dynasty a part of Chinese history?

The Mongol Empire, the vastest territory in history, conquered every corner that their cavalry could arrive, including most parts of Eurasia Continent. In 1271, Mongolia Yuan Dynasty was formally established. And in 1279, the last forces of resistance of the Southern Song Dynasty were completely destroyed by Mongolia army, and the Southern Song Dynasty ended. Nowadays, that whether the Yuan Dynasty is a part of Chinese history remains controversial.

Some People believe that the Yuan Dynasty is a part of Chinese history. After the establishment, Yuan Dynasty modeled the administrative organization of the Song Dynasty, carried out imperial examinations, recognized the status of Confucianism, partly relied on the Han bureaucrats to participate in national political activities, which to a certain extent it recognized the Chinese civilization. Up to now, Mongolian is also counted as part of the Chinese nation, because Mongolian is also a huge part in the national composition of China. The Republic of China early established by Mr. Sun Zhongshan used the national flag to represent the meaning of five-nationality unity for a republic, i.e., Han, Manchuria, Mongolia, Hui, and Tibet. Therefore, there is nothing wrong to consider the Yuan Dynasty as a part of China historical period.

But some people believe the opposite, and they are sure that the Yuan Dynasty is not a part of Chinese history. In 1279, the Yaishan battle in now Yamen town, Xinhui District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, broke out. It was the last organized resistance to the invasion of Mongolia by the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty army failed, and the last 7-year- old Emperor died, and tens of thousands of the last elites of the Song Dynasty disappeared in suicide for country. Because of the fierce resistance from the Song Dynasty, for revenge and anger, but also to overcome the Han people, Mongolia often implemented the extremely savage massacres upon Han people. China lost about 70 million people of its population under the rule of the Mongolia. After the occupation of Mongolia, the original Song Chinese did not enjoy national treatment, but only slaves. The official language of the Yuan Dynasty basically was Mongolian culture, and cultural heritage of the Tang and Song Dynasties was destroyed, and imperial examination was not held for a long time, and Chinese gradually lose the noble soul.

However, it is not until the eighteenth Century that the concept of a nation-state should have existed. And it is meaningless to discuss that a country is determined by nation or by territory in the history that cannot be supposed. In any case, it is a Chinese history.

China, Korea and Japan are the three countries in Northeast Asia, too tangled up to unravel the long history of gratitude or resentment. In most cases, Japan always wanted to conquer Korea to conquer China, and then established a great emperor. As the mother country of Korea, China always counterattacked Japan when Korea was in critical situation in the Japanese invasion. In China, there are many films about counterattacking Japan during 1931~1945, but few films about helping Korea fight Japan before the modern history. More historical events about the three countries in films come from Korea, and The Admiral: Roaring Currents is one of them. Directed and co-written by Kim Han-min, based on the historical Battle of Myeongnyang, it stars Choi Min-sik as the Korean naval commander Yi Sun-sin. The movie overwhelmingly surpassed Avatar’s original record of 13 million viewers to become the most watched film of all time in Korea.

In the film, it revolves around the titular Battle of Myeongnyang circa 1597, regarded as one of legendary Joseon admiral Yi Sun-sin’s most remarkable naval victories, in which he led the only 12 ships remaining in his command to a heroic victory against an invading Japanese fleet numbering 330 vessels. The film spends a lot of time telling the story that the Korean fight Japanese, but a little time telling the truth that Chinese made great effort to help the Korean fight the Japanese. But the film caters to the Korean historical values, arouses the great enthusiasm of local audiences, and makes a great success in Korea.

Some details and mistakes worth thinking.

As mentioned above, we talk about the Korean historical values. And the Korean historical values are that Korea is ashamed of being a Chinese dependency in history, and they always want to get rid of this identity, though they already have. And they want to escape the Chinese influence upon Korea. It is reasonable to get the conclusion from the details in the film.

First, as mentioned before, Korea was a Chinese dependency, and they used Chinese Character as their official written language, and Chinese calendar as their calendar. In the film, when Yi Sun-sin reads the imperial edict in Chinese, we can see the date is Wanli 30 Years of Chinese Ming Dynasty. This is a stupid mistake, because the battle broke out in Wanli 25 Years, i.e., 1597, and Yi Sun-sin died in 1598. If in Wanli 30 Years, Yi Sun-sin could not revive to lead the war.

Second, in the film, the Korean navy soldiers are all dressed in iron armor, which is not true. The standard Korean army equipments were copied from Chinese Ming Dynasty, but only the generals had the right to wear the iron armor. According to history, the Korean navy soldiers wore leather armor and cotton armor. Furthermore, iron armors are very dangerous to navy soldiers, because when falling into water soldiers would be drowned for the iron armor gravity. The film should not show disrespect for history, only because the film wants better visual effect from iron armor than leather armor and cotton armor.

Third, the film pushes Korean army forward in the battle against Japanese, but the film tells little about the fact that Chinese army were the main force to save Korea. No matter how successful Yi Sun-sin in the Battle of Myeongnyang was, it was a blocking action, not a battle of annihilation. The Japanese navy main forces retreated because of local temporary small failure, but still had the ability to attack. “We are the last defense line of Korea, and the whole country will be lost if we fail,” says Yi Sun-sin. The fact is that Korea was already lost, and the Korean King escaped into China to seek refuge. And Korean army was dogged by defeat at every step, and the main forces were mostly destroyed by the Japanese army. Under the background that main forces of Chinese Ming Dynasty were the main power to fight Japanese army, the Battle of Myeongnyang was just an auxiliary campaign.

It was nothing surprising that the film only got nearly $5 million in box office in China. In the face of nationalism, people are mentally handicapped. But if you want a successful film, nationalism is enough in local country, but far from successful in international market.

The true history.

In 1592, Japanese ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched an invading war to conquer Korea to conquer China. Because of the corrupt Korean interior and army, Japanese army wiped out most of Korean army, occupied most parts of Korea to the border line of China and Korea, the Yalu River. Korean King escaped into China. China decided to counterattack Japanese army.

Badly frightened by Japanese army, the command and reconnaissance system of Korean army nearly collapsed, and couldn’t present the accurate information about Japanese army for China. Because of the wrong information, in July 1592, China sent a spearhead army of 3,000 soldiers to attack the fallen Pyongyang. The Chinese spearhead army suffered heavy casualties, and failed.

In December 1592, China sent the main forces to attack again. Chinese army showed terrible combat effectiveness. In January 1593, Pyongyang was recovered, and more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. The war damage ratio of China and Japan was1:15. In April 1593, Seoul was recovered. Soon, Japan proposed to make peace, and retreated its army. 10,000 Chinese army stayed to defend Korea and the rest retreated.

But the peace was so weak. The 1593 peace agreement was made by the envoys of China and Japan, but in order to get agreement quickly and nicely, the envoys made some provisions unreasonable for both parties, which made Chinese Emperor and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were very furious. In January 1597, Japanese army of 140,000 land forces and 10,000 navy forces attacked Korea again to ask for more. And that was the background for Battle of Myeongnyang commanded by Yi Sun-sin. Of course, Korean army was utterly routed as in the past, and it mainly relied on Chinese army to attack Japanese army. Though Battle of Myeongnyang blocked the Japanese navy attack, the Japanese navy main forces were completely destroyed by Chinese navy forces in Battle of Noryang in 1598.

The series of war laid the structure of the Northeast Asia for the coming 300 years, and had important influences on China, Korea and Japan.

In order to fight Japan, China spent 7 years and lots of money and lots of soldiers fighting in Korea, which made the country weak. And, what was worse was that to reinforce the combat personnel, the Ming dynasty had to arm and train the Manchu soldiers who later destroyed Ming Dynasty.

As for Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi died for the loss of the war, and Leyasu Tokugawa unified Japan. Leyasu Tokugawa cut off Japan from the outside world for almost 300years, because Japan knew that they couldn’t afford to engage another war with China again.

The Korean dynasty was reserved after the war, and continued to attach itself to China. And Korea got a famous national hero Yi Sun-sin to commemorate for the nation. 300 years later, Korea was completely occupied by Japan.

The Crusades was a famous religious movement in history. Generally speaking, the Crusades was a failure, and the main reason was the complex social composition of participants, non-unified weapons and equipment. The Crusades made great suffer to the East and West Europe, caused huge material losses, but they had a long-term effect on the European civilization. The Crusades actually opened the door to the East Trade, promoted the development of Western science and technology. It found an outlet for the civil war in the Christian kingdoms of Europe, drove the European continent onto the cosmopolitan Road, made them open their eyes to the broader external world.

The external world included China in the Far East. The Westerners began to learn from China to make incendiary agents, gunpowder and firearms, began to use a compass, replaced rowing by sailing ships in Navy new development, and valued the status and role of the light cavalry. Literature and poetry flourished. In the knowledge dissemination caused by the Crusades, the positive role outweighed the negative effects.

Although the positive role of China in the knowledge transmission during the Crusades is acknowledged, there are few movies that relate the Crusades and China. Outcast is the only one by far. Outcast, a 2014 American-Chinese-French action film, directed by Nick Powell, stars Nicolas Cage, Hayden Christensen, Liu Yifei, Ji Ke Jun Yi and Andy On. The Crusades soldier Jacob tortured by war is stranded to the Far East to escape the painful memory of the Crusades war. But he is engaged in the imperial throne inheritance dispute between the princes, again he is in war to protect the younger prince and his sister, the princess. That may be the most dramatic and sad love story that the soldier travels so fast to meet and love the princess, then parts alone. The film gives an implicit background that it happens in China.

The Crusades soldier travels at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

From the history truth, we can find some stupid mistakes the film makes.

First, the Crusades soldier would never travel so far. According to history, the Crusades broke out during 1096 to 1291, during which was the Song Dynasty in China, or the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Unlike the Han dynasty (202 – 220B.C.) or the Tang dynasty (618—907), the Song Dynasty the territory was relatively smaller. And the neighbouring countries were bellicose and tough, and war broke out everywhere. On one hand, the Crusades went as far as within Europe. On the other hand, the Song Dynasty didn’t directly adjoin the Central Asia, not to say the West Asia. It made it hard to go to China from the West through land way. What about the seaway? That was impossible for the Westerners because of their poor navigation technology and shipbuilding level.

We don’t know exactly when the Crusades soldier goes to China in the film. Even he comes in Southern Song Dynasty that has the relatively bigger territory, and he never has the chance to arrive in China. Look at the territory map of Southern Song Dynasty below. The coastal green part was the Southern Song Dynasty territory.

Second, the Jinyang City once existed, but it couldn’t wait until the Crusades soldier arrival. The Jinyang City was located in nowadays Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, China. At the beginning of Song Dynasty, Jinyang City was not under the reign of Song Dynasty, but Song Dynasty always wanted to take it into its own territory. In 979, the second emperor, Emperor Taizong, led his army to conquer Jinyang City. The rampart was tall and tough, and the enemy was skillful, which made the Song army suffer heavy casualties. After the occupancy of Jinyang City, Emperor Taizong decided to destroy the city and the rampart completely. For one hand, he vented his resentment, and for the other hand he thought that such a city easy to hold but hard to attack would give the chance for other persons to claim Emperor in the city. So, the city vanished in 979. The citizens migrated to other cities under the Emperor order. In the film, the Crusades soldier has to go back to 979 through time travel to meet the Chinese princess in Jinyang City. The map below shows the City gate of Jinyang City in the film.

Third, the desert appears in the wrong place. In the film, the Crusades soldier and the Chinese princess go into Jinyang City after the long escaping journey in the desert. But check the territory map of Southern Song Dynasty, you will find that Jinyang City was located in the area far from desert. The red circle shows the location of Jinyang City. It was a temperate continental climate, hot and rainy in summer, cold and dry in winter, and it would never become desert.

Fourth, the Western caravan appears in the wrong place. In order to cope with the previous and following plot about the desert journey, the Western caravan is present in the desert to give the Crusades soldier and the Chinese princess the chance to go into Jinyang City. But as mentioned before that the Song Dynasty territory was far from the West, the road is blocked. The Song Dynasty territory was surrounded by several bellicose and tough neighbouring countries. No one would take the chance of being robbed to go to China for the trade.

Directed by Tim Burton,Big Fish is an American fantasy drama movie, based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film stars Ewan McGregor, and Marion Cotillard. The movie was shot in Alabama in a series of fairy tale vignettes evoking the tone of a Southern Gothic fantasy. The movie received award nominations in multiple film categories. The film tells a story about the father’s legend in a child’s tone. Edward Bloom, an old man always shooting his mouth off, always shows off his marketing adventure. His son, Will, doesn’t believe what his father says, and the father and son gradually drift apart. Until the father may die soon, the son decides to come back to see father the last time, and the son finally understands father’s passionate life.

Big Fish is one of the few movies that refer to the Korean War. From 1950.10.25 to 1953.7.27, Chinese army and the United Army led by America were engaged in the war in Korea. The Military Armistice Agreement on North Korea was signed by the two meant the end of the war which rarely mentioned about by America. Compared to the Vietnam War, the Korean War seldom appeared in the films, newspapers, or political topics. The Korean War is thought to be unmitigated military failure by American that the most powerful country with Land Air Sea Warfare Joint three-dimensional operation was beaten by a poor country with primitive equipped land force. This is the shame and scars for America and American army. Don’t talk about it.

The Chinese girls entertain the troops.

In the film, Edward is conscripted by the army and sent to fight in the Korean War. He parachutes into the middle of a show entertaining Chinese and North Korean troops to steal important documents. The film tells that the actors show programs, and make some mistake at night. When they laugh at themselves to begin the next program, the conjoined twin dancer girls come on stage to show sexy song and dance, and then Edward drops from the clouds without notice. He fights with the soldiers. Then he goes into the tent, and finds two soldiers inside. He beats the two, and gets the important documents. Though the film does not tell the nationality of the soldiers and actors, but the martial arts and Chinese Mandarin shown by the soldiers and actors tell that they are Chinese.

When the conjoined twin dancer girls finish their program, the curtain falls, then the parachute left on the curtain hanging rod by Edward comes into the sight of soldiers. It alarms the Chinese and North Korean troops, and they begin to search for Edward. Edward hides himself in the twin girls’ room, where he hears they speak Cantonese, in a quarrel. The twin girls find him, but he succeeds to convince the girls that if they help him to get back to the United States, he will make them stars. And together they launch a long journey home, when he is unable to contact anyone and declared dead. This limits Edward’s job options when he does return home after four months, so he becomes a traveling salesman.

What do the film people want from the Chinese girls and Korean War?

I have to say that the plots about Chinese and North Korean troops are big failures. All that the film has deliberately done to dig at China make the film narrow and limited.

The film reveals some Chinese martial arts shown by two Chinese soldiers in a ridiculous way. The two Chinese soldiers do the job as two clowns, only without clown makeup. Especially the two soldiers finish the beginning form in the fixed position, looking at Edward and waiting for Edward’s attack, the plot comes to its highest laughter. The beginning form is just the gesture to fight and defense, valued by all kinds of martial arts, not just Chinese martial arts that has it. Every martial master has to admit that Chinese martial arts are delicate systems of fight and defense, and they learn a lot from it. That the film shows in this way just for making fun of Chinese martial arts just reveals that the film makers are lack of common sense.

In the film, Chinese troops are luxuriously dressed, warm and sound. The truth is that the Chinese Volunteer Army was directly exposed to the severe cold in the beginning of the war, and some soldier even fought the American Army wearing an unlined garment. This situation got better when the Chinese troops suffered huge human loss due to the cold, and made great effort to improve the replenishment, but the strike of the logistics from the American in the air always made the Chinese troops in despair. However, The United Nations Army led by the American never won the Chinese troops. On the contrary, many American soldiers have a high respect to the Chinese troops.

For the same reason, the Chinese girls in the film would never be dressed sexy and sexual, because they didn’t have the clothing in fact. In the Chinese troop’s history, literary soldiers to encourage combat troops in the forms of songs, dances, books, and so on, were an effective way to boost morale. But the literary soldiers were no different from other kinds of soldiers, and they ate, wore, and worked the same. So, the Chinese girls should be dressed in poor clothing. And, obscene songs would never appear in such special performance in the Korean War.

The Chinese troops use two languages in the film, the Cantonese and Chinese Mandarin, and surprisingly Edward knows the both. He can communicate with the Chinese girls in fluent Cantonese. A genius! But apparently, he gets a dictionary at hand. And how could he have the Cantonese-English dictionary at hand? Maybe he knows at the beginning that he will meet someone who speaks Cantonese. Or maybe that is the American Army pre-war training that teach them to speak Cantonese, and that is the prophetic vision from Pentagon. And thanks to the Pentagon, Edward together with the two girls put an elaborate plan for escape, involving a whaling ship to Russia, a barge to Cuba, and a small, dirty canoe to Miami, in Cantonese. It is really crazy.

The film involving the Korean War just for dramatic enhancement gives entertainment for the public, in such funny way. But if for dramatic enhancement, there are many ways. At the same time of the Korean War, many profound meaning events happened. Former Cuban President Batista to launch a military coup, American iron and steel industry workers to launch a strike, Bolivian Revolution, and so on, all created a great sensation that time. Edward would lead the American iron and steel industry workers strike to overthrow the American government. And when he is old, he can boast to his son Will that he is the president of America. That would be much funnier. So, the plot about the Korean War is to be criticized for its absurdity and lack of history knowledge.

As a kind of genre film, war films are quiet for a long time. Hacksaw Ridge from Mel Gibson, ten years of grinding the sword, harvests high reputation around the world. It gets good comments and is evaluated as the most the most shocking scenes of war after Saving Private Ryan. As the direction indicator of Oscar Award, Golden Globe Award announced on December 12, 2016 the nomination list, and Hacksaw Ridge got three nominations, best film, best director, and best actor. It has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, gained or been nominated for numerous awards, and grossed $120 million worldwide.

Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan, is based on an earlier documentary about Doss. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths and Vince Vaughn. It is a 2016 biographical war film about the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacificist combat medic who was a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, refusing to carry or use a firearm or weapons of any kind. Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for service above and beyond the call of duty.

Why does it say that American and Chinese fight against Japanese in Hacksaw Ridge? There is even not a Chinese that shows up in the film. But if we review the history of American and Chinese league, you will find the truth.

The Japanese division from hell.

According to history, the Japanese army responsible for fielding of Hacksaw Ridge belonged to the 62 Division that was formed in Taiyaun City, Shanxi Province, China. The 62 Division, without artillery but only two infantry brigades, was for maintaining occupied areas and mopping up operations.

It was not easy for the 62 Division that invaded China to maintain law and order in the hinterland of North China that was the most active region of the Eighth Route Army guerrillas. The poorly equipped Eighth Route Army, flexible and tenacious, caused countless troubles for the Japanese army in North China. And the 62 Division dispersed to guard more than 100 blockhouses. With combat experience with such opponents, the 62 Division even learned from the Eighth Route Army the tactics and experience of fighting enemy under harsh conditions. This experience helped the 62 Division in later battle of Okinawa.

One year later, the 62 Division was sent to join the continental traffic line operation, i.e., Henan, Hunan and Guangxi campaign, and fought the Kuomintang army. For the poor combat ability of Kuomintang army, though not main force, the 62 Division still won a series of combat success. After that, because of the Pacific War, the 62 Division was sent to Okinawa, where it came the end of the 62 Division.

Okinawa, the door of Japan mainland, was a hotly contested spot of American army and Japanese army. Once occupied by the American army, the Japan mainland would be directly threatened by American army and bombardment aircraft.

Japan sent three divisions the defend Okinawa, the 9 Division, the 24 Division, the 62 Division. Considering that the 62 Division was the weakest and only fit for position defense mission, the Japanese base camp sent the 62 Division to central and South Okinawa to rely on the terrain to build complete defensive positions. In Hacksaw Ridge, we can see that the positions constructed by the 62 Division, and the bunkers, trenches and tunnels are so complete that they can bear the strike from large caliber naval gun.

Because of the fast defeat in the Pacific War, the Japanese base camp was forced to send the most powerful 9 Division to Taiwan, China, before the battle of Okinawa. The unexpected adjustment gave show space for the 62 Division. The American army didn’t treat Japanese army lightly, and in sure to take over Okinawa, American army massed the biggest forces in Pacific area, with more than 1500 ships, more than 2000 planes, and the total troops exceeded 450 thousand. With the absolute advantage, the American army made no way of reinforcement for the Japanese army, and Okinawa became an isolated island. After evaluating the situation, the Japanese army was to launch the defensive war, relying on the southern Okinawa position, rather than to hold the whole island. Thus, the 62 Division became the main force to engage with American army.

At first, American army countered light resistance in the beach and the North Okinawa, and they became optimistic to take over South Okinawa. But when they entered the mountain area, they met the well-prepared Japanese army. Because of the mountainous terrain, the American infantry climb up the seemingly empty hill in the dense formation. Suddenly, Japanese mortars, infantry guns, and grenade launchers bombed the American army, and shells exploded in the intensive offensive crowd. Light and heavy machine guns and rifles shot in all directions, reaping lives.

When American army paid a heavy price to take over a position, the residual Japanese army perished together with American army with grenades, and other Japanese army would launch fierce local counterattack. Japanese army even came out from underground, using tunnels, and defeated American army again and again. In some memoirs of American soldiers, these Japanese were called Hell devil. But, American organized heavy artilleries, tanks, recoilless guns, flame injectors, and explosive bag carried by brave soldiers to attack. These stories are shown in Hacksaw Ridge, but not as cruel as the real battle field.

Finally, with the overwhelming advantage, American army took over one position after another. The Japanese 62 Division fell back to other position to defend. Hacksaw Ridge was just one of the positions on their retreat way. Different from the film, after the loss of Hacksaw Ridge, with more than half of casualties and running out of ammunition and food supplies, the Japanese 62 Division went on defense on the South Okinawa. But it was doomed to be eliminated. According to records, the 62 Division forced the Okinawa civilians to suicide before it was eliminated.

To be honest, Hacksaw Ridge shows the real Japanese army, stubborn, cruel, insane, and cunning. But just because the film describes the very powerful Japanese army, audiences get great impression of American army, especially Doss, and feel the cruelty of war and the precious peace.

The contradiction of film and reality.

There are many American war films that describe the tough fight between Japanese army and American army. In the films, the American army is brave, tenacious and clever, and helps the people of fallen countries, standing tall in the hard years. America moulds the typical positive image of American armies through these films. Besides, America assists its allies with a large amount of material, arms and ammunitions to continue the Anti-Japanese War. And America suffered great loss during the war against Japanese. Under the joint efforts of America and its allies, especially China, the Japanese were forced back to their mainland of four islands. In word, the war would last much longer if America didn’t engage the war. And American army entered and garrisoned Japan, and began to reform Japan.

But, for its own interests, the reformation of Japan under the lead of America was not thorough. And many wartime political features were reserved. The worst is that the Japanese Militarism was thoroughly eliminated, which left hidden dangers in the future. Nowadays, America gradually looses the chain that limits the Japanese militarization. Japan officially passed the newly modified Security Series acts on March 23, 2016, which means that the Japan’s pacifist constitution ceases to exist except in name. It is believed that America turns a blind eye to it. And Japan will take the old road of militarism, and becomes offensive. It is beyond comprehension that why America easily abandons the triumph that was got at the cost of innumerable American soldiers’ lives.

And, what will Japan think about it?

Today, December 13th, the National public memorial day of Nanjing Massacre, is set by the Chinese government to commemorate the 300,000 victims in the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese Army. On December 13, 1937, Japanese Army attacked and occupied Nanjing, and in the following 43 days from then on, innumerable civilians, unarmed soldiers, women and children, were massacred by the Japanese Army. Nanjing became a living hell. Here, the film Spirits’ Homecoming, tells another living hell, i.e., the misery of the comfort women in the comfort station. Spirits’ Homecoming is a 2016 South Korean period drama film written and directed by Cho Jung-rae. It is set during the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1943. The movie tells the story of 14-year old Jung-min and Young-hee. One day, Japanese soldiers come to kidnap the two girls in order to use them as ‘Comfort Women’. Jung-min and Young-hee plan to escape because of the constant sexual assault and beatings. However, while Young-hee succeeds, in order to save Young-hee, Jung-min is shot by the Japanese soldiers.

The Second World War, Japan, Comfort Women, behind which is the painful history, full of spots of tears and blood. In those years, more than 400,000 females from China, Korea and other Asian countries, suffered horrific ravage and slaughter by the Japanese soldiers. Most of them were buried in the history, even without their names. A few survivors, with their broken bodies, lived abject and grievous life, and they never were able to shake off the psychological shadow.

The cruelest thing is to destroy a beautiful thing, and show you the whole course. At the beginning, the film shows girls’ life with the keynote of pure and fresh. Trees in the wild, fresh wind and sunshine, carefree games with companions, families and neighbors, all show the simple and happy life. But, when the truck full of Japanese soldiers passes by, the perplexed and worried girls and playful smile on the Japanese soldiers’ faces, we all know the living hell is just right there. It is not fictional, but really existed in history. It is not isolated, but just one of the thousands of sufferings and nightmares.

And when the girls arrive at the comfort station where the Japanese soldiers vent sexual desire, they know what are waiting for them. They are in panic and fear and violation and beatings all day long, raped by dozens of Japanese soldiers. They are not allowed to speak Korean but Japanese, which make them lose freedom and country, and become unwanted wandering souls. Most of them are very young, even under age of 14, the flower age. The heroine answers the Japanese soldier that she is just 14, and a virgin, and she cries and begs and fears and screams, but the Japanese cares nothing and violates her. She is too young to know what the Japanese is doing. The most and heaviest atmosphere spreads out, and people cannot help shivering.

The film also tells the brutal truth that even the Koreans are never on an equal footing with the Japanese, even if they take service in the Japanese army. One of the girls, whose brother is the Japanese army, is still kidnapped to use as Comfort Woman. When the brother wants to save his sister, he is beaten soundly by the Japanese. And the sister gets mad, and she calls every Japanese soldier bother, because they are in the same uniform as her brother.

The Chinese girl in Spirits’ Homecoming.

There is a plot about Chinese girl. A team of Japanese soldiers go to the comfort station. On the way, there are bodies randomly thrown away by the Japanese by the road to corrupt, without bury or cremation. That is really inhuman, because it is the basic respect to bury the dead. But, it may be quite usual to the Japanese. A Japanese soldier stops, and he takes off one of the dead girl’s clothes. He wants the girl to take on the clothes before the violence. And the girl is Chinese who does not know Japanese, and she is beaten badly by the Japanese soldier for her disobey.

The plot emphatically shows that the victims are very extensive. China and Korea, close neighbors separated only by a strip of water, are all invaded by Japanese for years. Because of war and confusion and fighting, people of two countries often cross the border line and go in to the other country. But, Japanese armies are everywhere, and they are all under the repressive rule of Japanese. In both countries, they can feel the loss of home. And when the disasters come, not a man is spared.

Furthermore, the film implicitly criticizes Chinese government that China suffered most among countries invaded by the Japanese army, and the number of Chinese females kidnapped by Japanese for Comfort Women was the biggest, but Chinese government never set a hardline tone against Japanese after the War. Take Comfort Women for an example, there is national-level researches, publications, or supporting living Comfort Women to ask Japanese government for compensation. And there is even not a film about the Comfort Women. Chinese acts only verbally, not practically. Numerous historical people and facts are left in the long river of history.

Japanese never has the courage to face the history.

Comfort women were females who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories before and during World War II. Most of the women were from occupied areas, including Korea, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, and other Japanese-occupied territories. A smaller number of women of European origin were also involved from the Netherlands and Australia. Estimates as to how many women were involved, numbers are as high as 360,000 to 410,000. Stations were located in Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, then Malaya, Thailand, Burma, New Guinea, Hong Kong, Macau, and French Indochina. 

So far, there is no official declaration from the Japanese government to face and acknowledge the Comfort Women problem and the pain brought to the victims. This is a question clearly worth thinking.

Dragon Blade is a 2015 Chinese Hong Kong historical action film written and directed by Daniel Lee. In the film, Jackie Chan plays Huo An, the commander of the Protection Squad of the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty. John Cusack and Adrien Brody also play their parts in the film.

In western China, 48 BC., the Han Dynasty established the Protection Squad of the Western Regions to protect the Silk Road and reconcile 36 nations in the Western Region, and Huo An is the commander. However, the Protection Squad is found corrupt, causing the entire group to be judged to construct the castle at Wild Geese Gate. Not long after, Wild Geese Gate is threatened by a Roman legion led by Lucius in need of water and supplies. Huo An and Lucius succeed in staying in peace. The legion uses its engineering skills to speed up the construction work, and they finish the job together ahead of schedule.

To hunt down Lucius, Tiberius, a corrupt consul who murdered his father, approaches with 100,000 soldiers. Lucius is set up and dies and Huo An is trapped. As Huo An’s and Lucius’s soldiers are surrounded, the armies of several other races arrive and fight against Tiberius, including the Indians, Huns, Uighurs, and Turkics, all of whom are determined to preserve the Silk Road’s safety. But their combined forces are unable to gain the upper hand. Finally, the envoys sent earlier return with a massive force of Parthians, who have signed a special treaty with Tiberius’s father. Tiberius’s soldiers lose their will to fight. Huo An challenges Tiberius to a duel and kills him. After the war, the Chinese emperor grants Lucius’s legion the right to establish their own city, which they choose to name Regum. They accept Huo An as their commander.

Dragon Blade is based on a true Chinese history event.

In the Han Dynasty of Chinese history, the Huns were a severe threat in the north to the Han Emperor. During the regnum of the Emperor Yuan (74 BC—33 BC), the Huns separated into two parts, the South Huns and the North Huns. The North Huns, led by the Zhizhi Chanyu who was envious of the preferential treatment of the Emperor for the South Huns, often imprisoned, humiliated or even kill the Han envoy within their territory. Zhizhi Chanyu was worried about the punishment from the Emperor, though. And Zhizhi Chanyu escaped to Kangqu, in what is now the area between Balkhash Lake and Aral Sea, where he built a Zhizhi City.

Chen Tang, Vice-captain of the Protection Squad of the Western Regions, determined to attacked the Zhizhi City, and he reported to the Commander Gan Yanshou. Gan Yanshou agreed the plan, but he insisted that the plan should be proved by the Emperor. Chen Tang was impatient of the long decision procedure and the road to the Emperor was so long. One day, Gan Yanshou was ill, which gave Chen Tang the chance to fabricate the command of the Emperor to call in all army and protectorate army to attack the Zhizhi City. Gan Yanshou was so shocked by Chen Tang, but the attack was on the way, and he had to admit the mistake and reported to the Emperor and followed Chen Tang to lead the war.

In the assault against Zhizhi City, a team of strange soldiers in Zhizhi ‘s army used a “fish-scale formation ”, which is believed by historian and military scientist that the described Testudo formation of overlapping shields was made only by Roman soldiers. The infantrymen used the Testudo formation for defense on the foot of the fortress, and the cavalrymen charged towards Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang army. But the Han united army finally win the war, and Zhizhi Chanyu was killed. A thousand more North Huns army was captured, the team of strange soldiers included. It is believed that the the team of strange soldiers were mercenary army.

The war happens in the wrong Chinese place.

The war is real, and Commander Gan Yanshou, Vice-Captain Chen Tang, and Testudo formation are true in history. In the long long time in history, as an advanced farming culture, the Han-Chinese were self-sufficient. But the nomads, especially the Huns in the Han Dynasty, threatened the Han Dynasty in the way of burning, killing, pillaging, even war, to get necessities. The Han-Chinese regime often fought for the right to survive, but to lose more than to win. The film tells the basic truth but makes some mistakes.

First, the Dragon Bladewar happens in the wrong place. The film people apparently are short of geographical knowledge. Check the Han Dynasty map below, and the black circle part is the Wild Geese Gate fortress in North China, and the red circle part is the Capitol City Chang’an, and the green region is the territory of the Han Dynasty.

The Wild Geese Gate fortress, which is “Yan men guan” in Chinese pinyin, located in Yan Men Mountain, 20km north of Daixian County, Yizhou city, Shanxi Province, North China, is an important pass of the Great Wall. The Wild Geese Gate fortress is famous of its steepness and ruggedness, easy to hold but hard to attack. During the Han Dynasty, the Wild Geese Gate was a significant military base for the Han army to fight against the Huns from the North.

The Protection Squad of the Western Regions, with its administrative office located in nowadays Luntai, Xinjiang Province, China, governed the Western Region, in what is now mostly Xinjiang Province, Qinghai Province, China, and the area located in the east of the Pamirs Plateau, east and south of the Balkhash Lake. If the Roman legion came to China, they would first arrive in the Western Regions in any case.

The distance between the Wild Geese Gate fortress and Western Regions is thousands of miles. The Roman legion would never be able to reach the deep China. So, the Roman legion must arrive in the Western Regions.

Second, the film excessively weakens the operational capability of the Han Dynasty army.

The Roman legion of 100,000 soldiers led by Tiberius couldn’t just silently go to the Wild Geese Gate and pass by the Capitol of the Han Dynasty, Chang’an, which is located in the middle between the Western Regions and the Wild Geese Gate. And during the story, the Han Dynasty army never shows up, which doesn’t make sense. Needless to say, the powerful Han Dynasty army, the army of the Protection Squad of the Western Regions cannot be underestimated. And the Han Dynasty army will never ignore the Roman legion occupying the 36 nations in the Western Region, and will annihilate the Roman legion in minutes.

Third, the film never explains how the Roman legion with 100,000 soldiers supports their logistical ability. In ancient times, the logistic support for the army is rather difficult, because it needs human to transport food, weapons, tents, and forage. In this way, the logistic support troops must be huge, as the 100,000 soldiers’ legion fought thousands of miles deep in China. But in the film, the logistic support troops never show up.

Forth, the Parthians and the 36 nations in the Western Region would never come to the Wild Geese Gate fortress in North China, for the same reasons. The Parthians and the 36 nations armies, which are enormous Operational personnel, would never have the fighting ability to attack to come to the area, and the Han Dynasty army never overlook them.

The Revenant is a 2015 American frontier survival and revenge movie, directed, co-produced, and co-written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The Revenant premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on December 16, 2015, and had a limited release on December 25, 2015, followed by a wide release on January 8, 2016. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, and co-stars Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter. It received positive reviews, mostly for its performances, direction, and cinematography. The Revenant and DiCaprio won a series of awards and prize.

The film is based in part on Michael Punke’s novel with the same title, inspired by the experiences of frontiersman Hugh Glass in 1823, in what is now Montana and South Dakota. It tells the story that a trapper badly was hurt by a bear, and robbed of fortune, and abandoned in the wild, but he struggled to survived through suffer and began to revenge. The R-rank film receives all kinds of criticism. In the amazingly beautiful nature, the violent and brutal story just happens here. The dark sides of human nature, the thirst to survive, the slaughter against Native Americans, hunting against wild animals without restraint, sexual assault, are all interweaved in the limited time and space to give people to think about the history.

The trappers hunted for pelts.

The North West coast of North America of 18th century first came the Russians. Danish explorer Vitus Bering, who worked for Russia, found groups of sea otters and seals on Coleman Dole Islands. They sold the sea otter and seal furs to Chinese merchants at unexpectedly high price, which stimulated Russian to further exploration to the North America. From 1743 to 1800, Russians got amazing profit from the fur exploration.

The second was the British people. In 1778 spring, Cook James led an expedition team in North West Coast of North America, inadvertently finding that the furs exchanged from the Native Americans sold at very high price in Guangdong Province, China. But engaged in the war with France and Spain, the British people were unable to do the business in large scale with China.

The third was Spain. From 1783, Spain began sea otter furs trades with Chinese, but for the same reason as British, they were engaged in war with British and mineral trade in South America, so the furs trades remained in small scale.

But finally, the party that got the most profits was the United States of American. In 1782, there was a guy who followed Cook James. When he returned to America, he wrote a book about his venture, which gave the way for Captain Kendrick and Captain Gray of the United States to do the business. They bought cheap knives and blankets in Boston, and went to the North West coast to exchange for furs with the Indians, then went to Guangdong, China, to exchange for tea and silk, and went back to America to sell Chinese goods. And they gradually killed the animals themselves for furs. From 1793 to 1807, three million and five hundred thousand seals were killed.

The Chinese merchants purchased pelts.

The enthusiasm of the fur was not first launched by Chinese people. Early in 17th century, Western Europeans were the first to set off the upsurge, when beaver fur hat was the trend of fashion pursued by Europeans. From then on, the fur trade was gradually eastward. Until 18th century, China became the biggest market of fur trade. But it was not happened over night.

Both Europeans and Chinese people were lack of warm clothing and equipment. But for Chinese people, they had less resource to get animal fur in their history, and they mainly relied on nomadic people from the North to change goods for furs. So, it was reasonable for them to get warm clothing from animal furs in any way.

And second, at that time, Chinese tea, silk, chinaware, and other goods were very popular abroad. When one side of the trade was lack of silver cash, animal fur sometimes played as hard currency to make the trade to happen. This also made the need for furs stronger.

The third, why did American people go far away from Europe to China for the market? The large Chinese population formed the large-scale market. There’s no comparison between Chinese and European need. And after the Independence War, the American Merchants in pursuit of economic interest turned to China.

How do Chinese help Leonardo DiCaprio?

Chinese help Leonardo DiCaprio in two ways. The film was premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre, though the Theatre has nothing to do with China. And the Chinese strong demand for furs inspired the following series of events, including Michael Punke’s novel with the same title that gives the chance for Leonardo DiCaprio to star in the film. Without Chinese, Leonardo DiCaprio might never have the chance to win Oscars. That’s funny!

Vicky the Viking is a 2009 live action comedy based on the book Vicke Viking and adaptation of the animated series called “Vicky the Viking“, premiered on September 9, 2009, in Munich, German. Vicky is the son of Halvar, chief of the Viking village of Flake, a strong and big warrior who measures people through muscles and strength. Vicky, small but smart, always proves his father that a man cannot only judged by muscles.

One day the village of Flake is under attack, and all the children except for Vicky himself are kidnapped. Vicky, together with his father Halvar and the other Vikings decide to rescue them. The kidnappers turn out to be Sven the Terrible and his band of Viking pirates, who are hunting for a legendary treasure, and in order to gain it, they need the assistance of a child who has never spoken a lie in his or her life. Whilst in pursuit, the Flake Vikings pick up a young Chinese girl, and together they succeed in rescuing the children.

The Chinese girl.

The Chinese girl called Lifu, is very beautiful, a member of the Chinese National Circus, whose ship is attacked by the band of Viking pirates. Lifu gets lost on the sea, trapped in an old box, and picked up by the Flake people. When Lifu appears from the box, she blurts out a pile of sentences in Cantonese, a local dialect of Guangdong, nowadays China, telling the story about her unfortunate experience. The girl knows quite well about the Viking pirates, at the meeting when she and the Flake people discuss how to rescue the children, she gives the details on what the Viking pirates want, how to approach them, how to calculate the distance, and surprisingly, the topography of the destination. Lifu even knows the story and history of the treasure. And how does she know about these? Well, Lifu explains that she had selective course before. On the journey to the children, Lifu tells more about herself. Her family was poor, and could not afford the taxes, and her father wanted to sell her to the King. Her mother refused, and told her to go far away. So, she goes abroad with the Chinese National Circus.

I don’t know if the filmmaker wants to vaguely criticize China with high tax rates, or something else. But that the girl’s father wants to sell her to the king is absolutely invalidated. In ancient times, the King can have any girl as his wife across his kingdom, not only in China. The King disdains to purchase and doesn’t have to purchase the girl, and the father will not sell the girl to the King. That Lifu is sold to a landlord would be more narrative. Of course, it is more wonderful if Lifu goes bak to China together with her Circus, after married to the big guy. A big reunion, huh?

The Chinese people never go so far that time.

Well, first, let’s talk something about the Vikings. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history. Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century. In that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe. Likewise, King Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, had Danish ancestors. Two Vikings even ascended to the throne of England, with Sweyn Forkbeard claiming the English throne from 1013 – 1014 and his son Cnut the Great becoming king of England from 1016 – 1035. Here we know the time span of the Viking Age.

Second, What about China during the Viking Age? The Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the Tang Dynasty (960~1279) are the two famous dynasties. The common of the two dynasties is that their shipbuilding industry, seamanship and navigation are highly developed. Traders with ships full of various goods, such as chinaware, silk, priceless treasures, and so on, travel around the world. The shipping routes are known as the Sea Silk Road. According to historical records, the Road in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the Tang Dynasty are basically the same. The Road begins from Guangzhou City of China, then across southeast Hainan Island, along the east of the Indochinese Peninsula, across the Siam Bay, then to the south by Malay, to the southeast Sumatra Island, to the Java Island, then to the west along  Malacca Strait, crossing the Bay of Bengal by Nicobar Islands, to Srilanka, then to the west along the west coast of India Peninsula, across the Arabia sea, along the Hormuz Strait to Abadan of Persian Gulf end, against Euphrates River to Basra, to Baghdad after thousands of land route. And from the Persian Gulf, along Southern coast of Arabia Peninsula, to Bab el Mandeb Strait by Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, and down south to coastal countries of East Africa. It took 90 days from Guangzhou to Basra, and 48 days from Basra to Dar Es Salaam.

And here is the problem. The Suez Canal that links the Mediterranean and the Crimson Sea was opened to ships in November 17, 1869. Any Chinese ship would never appear in Northern Europe sea before that time unless the ship sailed on the land pulled by human, as the film tells it.