Fall of Ming
Fall of Ming (Chinese: 大明劫; pinyin: Dà Míng Jié) is a 2013 Chinese historical drama film directed by Wang Jing (王竞).
| Fall of Ming | |
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 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Wang Jing (王竞) |
| Written by | Xiaodong Xie |
| Starring | Yuanzheng Feng Leon Dai Bo Feng |
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | China |
| Language | Chinese |
Plot
Northern China in 1642, after almost 300 years, the Ming dynasty is on the verge of collapse. Li Zicheng's rebel forces have surrounded Kaifeng, capital of Henan province, but their attack on the city is temporarily beaten back.
The persecuted Field Marshal Sun Chuanting (Leon Dai) is released from prison and summoned by the Chongzhen Emperor (Yu Shaoqun), and given 5,000 troops to put down the rebellion. Sun arrives in Tongguan with his wife (Feng Bo) and child, and is greeted by Commander He Renlong, who does not know that Sun has come to execute him and his men for abandoning their posts.
Itinerant physician Wu Youke (Feng Yuanzheng) is tried for allegedly poisoning a patient with his unconventional treatment; the case is dismissed but the judge bans him from practising in his jurisdiction. On his way to Tongguan to visit his teacher, Wu is forced by Ming troops to attend to the wounds of Li Tianyou (Sun Qiang), a disillusioned scholar who was actually en route to joining the rebels. He then stays with his teacher, Master Physician Zhao Chuan (Qian Xuege), who is told to treat the Ming soldiers when more and more of them mysteriously start falling ill, but Master Physician Zhao is unable to stop the spread of the epidemic among the soldiers and later dies of the plague himself. The rebels kidnap Wu to treat their troops, but Field Marshal Sun's troops rescue him. An understanding develops between Wu and the field marshal, who allows Wu to test out his unconventional medical theories of airborne disease. Wu isolates the sick and orders those in contact to cover their face, and manages to contain the plague for the moment.
Meanwhile, Field Marshal Sun finds that Tongguan's grain supplies are seriously low and the grain bags are filled with sand instead, so he angrily executes the registrar for hiding the fact. The local garrison is poorly trained, and the firearm equipments are malfunctional due to lack of maintenance. The besieged Ming troops in Kaifeng are now starving, and the Ming court is sending urgent orders telling Sun to attack the rebels. Sun however is having procure even rations and funds from the local gentries, who refused to contribute anything to the army. When Sun attempts to confiscate lands stolen by the gentries from the local garrison, they bribe his deputy Ren Qi (Hu Xiaoguang) to burn down government archive storing the evidence. In fury and desperation, Sun murders all the gentries and seized their assets by force. Under pressure from the emperor, he sets out with an underprepared army to engage the rebels, and is killed in the subsequent battle. After his death, Li Zicheng's forces successfully invades Guanzhong and establishes the Shun dynasty at Xi'an, and the Ming dynasty collapses two years later.
Disillusioned with the government, Wu Youke goes back to his hometown in Suzhou, bringing Master Zhao's widowed daughter and grandson with him. He then spends the rest of his life compiling his experiences treating the plague into books.
Cast
- Yuanzheng Feng
- Leon Dai
- Bo Feng
- Yang Yang
- Xuege Qian
External links
- Fall of Ming on IMDb