# Why no Chinese historical epics set in the last 200 years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100 "2010-06-05T22:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/21 "2010-06-07T04:10:51Z")
The Good the Bad and the Weird? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/22 "2010-06-07T05:35:47Z")
I mainly watch martial arts films, and it seems like there’s plenty of films from 1800-1950. Once upon a time in China and America (early 1800’s) Fist of Legend, Ip Man (Japanese occupation of China in the 1920’s) Ip Man 2 (Hong Kong right after WWII) Born to Defense (US occupation of China after WW2) ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/23 "2010-06-07T06:00:46Z")
Of course most kung fu films are products of Hong Kong and subject to different political forces. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/24 "2010-06-07T07:14:15Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The Good the Bad and the Weird? That’s South Korean- but definitely worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/25 "2010-06-07T08:10:21Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Flipping through the channels, I’d venture that 30% of the shows I see are historical dramas. It’s kind of extraordinary. Lots of these are set during the period of war with Japan. I imagine a lot of this stuff doesn’t make it to the States because “Japan’s the worst thing ever” doesn’t really play as well. Indeed. There really are alot of historical soap operas and specials and whatnot on TV here, some good some bad some awful. Kind of odd, really. I can’t really think of anything comparable that has been shown in the US about, say, the American Revolution or the Civil War or anything like that. I guess The North and The South, maybe. You ever notice how the Japanese soldiers on those shows always have round glasses and one of those little Charlie Chaplin mustaches? I swear, there is always at least one in each show. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/26 "2010-06-07T08:30:25Z")
A biopic or other film significantly featuring any major political leader in the past 100 years could be problematic. Like the saying goes, “the past is not dead . . . it’s not even past.” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/27 "2010-06-07T08:42:05Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > A biopic or other film significantly featuring any major political leader in the past 100 years could be problematic. Like the saying goes, “the past is not dead . . . it’s not even past.” As I mentioned earlier, _The Founding Of A Republic_ is a recent (quasi-propaganda) film about Chiang Kai-Shek, Mao Tse-tung, and the Chinese Civil War. Also, _Bodyguards & Assassins_ is all about a plot to assassinate Dr. Sun Yat-Sen on a visit to Hong Kong in the 1900s. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/28 "2010-06-07T09:58:10Z")
> [@Quercus\_alba](#): > > Would [“The Sand Pebbles”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060934/) count? No. The main actors/characters and most of the production staff were American. Calling this a Chinese historical epic would be like calling **Patton** an example of Italian cinema. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/29 "2010-06-07T14:18:19Z")
Check out _To Live_. One of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/30 "2010-06-07T14:25:06Z")
I just watched _Lust, Caution_, an Ang Lee movie set during WWII. It is beautiful and heartbreaking, like most of Lee’s films. I don’t know that it is exactly _epic_, though. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/31 "2010-06-08T22:14:27Z")
How about “The Last Emperor”? This movie was very interesting to me, as it dealt with the end of the Manchu Dynasty, the rise of the Chinese Republic, the War, and then communism. Of course, it was made by a european-what do Chinese people think of it? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/32 "2010-06-08T22:33:55Z")
Thanks, all, I’ll have to try to find some of these. I’ve been going by what’s available at Blockbuster. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/33 "2010-06-08T22:34:55Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > If you count kung fu flicks . . . I’m trying not to . . . Can’t any Chinese director make a historical epic and keep the kung fu out of it?! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/34 "2010-06-08T22:37:26Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > We have like 5000 years of history. The last 200 is merely a drop in the bucket. Yes, but those 5000 years were all the same. Dynasty rises, dynasty falls, Empire divides, Empire unites, barbarians conquer, barbarians expelled . . . peasants continue farming their land by hand, generation after generation . . . The last 200 years is when Chinese history starts to get **interesting.** (In the Chinese sense.) ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/35 "2010-06-08T23:50:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I’m trying not to . . . > > Can’t any Chinese director make a historical epic and keep the kung fu out of it?! That’d be like asking a European director to make a film set in the Middle Ages without people in armour or carrying swords, surely? ;)\* I’ve always thought the Chinese fondness for films set in “The Generic Dynasty” was partly political- no risk of offending anyone important (or showing important figures on the winning side of the Chinese Civil War in a bad light) when the story is clearly set 3,000 years ago and follows the time honoured tradition of Warrior Monk on a spiritual journey to defeat [del]Master Pain[/del] [del]Betty[/del] The Evil Sorcerer Warlord. \*Yes, I know it’s been done. I’m just illustrating a point. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/36 "2010-06-09T00:06:55Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > That’d be like asking a European director to make a film set in the Middle Ages without people in armour or carrying swords, surely? ;)\* I’ll bet the actual role of kung-fu skills in Chinese military history is trivial . . . and I mean **real-life** kung fu, not the physically impossible wire-fu bullshit that has become whatever-is-Chinese-for-_de-rigeur_ in Chinese films lately. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/37 "2010-06-09T20:51:09Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Historically, China has a tendency to break into competing states. In my opinion, today’s leaders have a legitimate fear that this very nightmare could happen today. So I believe right now there is a lot of mythology about how a strong leader unified China and led it into glory- the very role that the current administration would like to be perceived as fulfilling. That explains the ending of [_Hero._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_(2002_film)) ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/38 "2010-06-10T03:17:46Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I’ll bet the actual role of kung-fu skills in Chinese military history is trivial . . . and I mean **real-life** kung fu, not the physically impossible wire-fu bullshit that has become whatever-is-Chinese-for-_de-rigeur_ in Chinese films lately. Sure; it’s an unrealistic trope just like the hero taking on twelve evil minions at once and winning. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100/39 "2010-06-10T03:37:34Z")
I know next to nothing about the history of kung fu, but isn’t it more associated with the peasant class as opposed to professional soldiers? Emphasizing the use of your bare hands in combat, or possibly a limited range of weapons that are basically modified farm implements – those kinds of legends would have appeal to oppressed farmers, not the soldiers that were trampling their fields and backing up the tax collectors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-chinese-historical-epics-set-in-the-last-200-years/542100.md?page=1)