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South China Morning Post
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
How Wayne Wang's Chinese Box presented the 1997 Hong Kong handover from a unique viewpoint
Inspired by Paul Theroux's 1997 novel Kowloon Tong, Chinese Box stars Jeremy Irons as John, an English writer who has lived in Hong Kong for 15 years and is dying of leukaemia. Wang was born in Hong Kong but is best known for his work in the United States, his adopted home. Being 'one side Chinese and one side American', as he considers himself, put him in a unique position. Perhaps the closest is Chinese Box (1997), an American indie film directed by Wayne Wang The Joy Luck Club ). While there are plenty of Hong Kong films about the city's 1997 handover to China after British rule , there are precious few told from a Western perspective. This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions. In the months leading up to the handover, we see him romancing bartender Vivian ( Gong Li in her first non-Chinese movie), in the process realising he hardly understands her world at all. 'Sometimes you just fall in love with a place, without really knowing why, without really fully understanding it – the way I fell in love with Vivian,' he admits in voice-over. When he is not mooning over Vivian, John takes to the streets with his camcorder, trying to get to know the real Hong Kong before it is too late. This is how he meets Jean ( Maggie Cheung Man-yuk ), a hustler with a scarred face and stories to tell about the city's underworld. 'She's caught between two worlds with a certain amount of denial of her own identity, and yet she's a great survivor, which is what Hong Kong is,' Wang told entertainment news outlet The AV Club. Jeremy Irons and Maggie Cheung in a still from Chinese Box. John is more prosaic. As the author of a book about making money in Asia, he has the slightly unsavoury air of a Western man in love with an exotic idea of the East. Irons is great at playing this type of character, as shown in David Cronenberg's M. Butterfly (1993), where he plays a French diplomat obsessed with John Lone's Chinese opera singer. The women get a predictably rougher ride. Vivian is in love with Chang ( Michael Hui Koon-man ), a businessman who refuses to marry her because of her past working as a prostitute. Throughout the film, Vivian mostly appears beautifully unobtainable behind a bar, but in an unguarded moment she vamps along to Marlene Dietrich's 'Black Market'. Michael Hui and Gong Li in a still from Chinese Box. Jean, meanwhile, describes harrowing memories of familial sexual assault for one of John's interview tapes. And when John helps her reunite with her high school love, William (Jared Harris), she is shocked that he does not remember her. If Vivian and Jean function more as metaphors for how the West has historically idealised, abused and ignored the East, at least Wang captures the clashing energies of the city itself. From the clattering food stalls to the upscale bars, and the fish markets to the Foreign Correspondents' Club, we see it all, often through the lens of a roving handheld camera. For extra verisimilitude, Wang also splices in news footage, clips of fireworks over Victoria Harbour and even a cheeky shot of the South China Morning Post. Michael Hui, Gong Li and Jeremy Irons in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, in 1997. Photo: Dickson Lee And the director does not shy away from politics. The film opens with the staged suicide of a Chinese protester terrified of the forthcoming regime change. We then see drunk expats playing down such worries, calling Hong Kong 'a bloody casino'. As the film continues, there are bomb threats, protests and civil unrest as John and Vivian's slightly underwhelming love story plays out. 'Every day, I would look at the headlines, cut a news clipping out and have Jeremy Irons read it on his desktop,' Wang said. 'At other times, it would be something more subtle, where maybe the Chinese officials are being non-committal about certain things, and I would try to use that as a subconscious, contextual thing for a scene. 'Let's say I was shooting a scene between Gong Li and her boyfriend, and the boyfriend is non-committal about his relationship to her. There are many different levels of trying to capture the mood, the uncertainty and the changes that were going on in the city.' Michael Hui, Jeremy Irons and Gong Li in a still from Chinese Box. To begin with, John is blasé about the handover. 'This great big department store is just having a change of management, that's all,' he says. But by the film's close, once he has loved, lost and come to understand Hong Kong better, he sees things more philosophically. 'Everything in this city has always been changing,' he tells us, and the handover is just another stage in its life cycle. There is a lot to unpack – perhaps too much for a 99-minute movie. What Wang shows so beautifully is that Hong Kong is a city of many sides – no matter who it belongs to. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook Advertisement
The Hindu
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Veterinarian Rana Preet Gill revives memories of the Ghadar movement in her new book
When veterinary officer with Punjab government, Rana Preet Gill went on a vacation to the Andamans in 2019, she saw a statue of Pt Ram Rakha Bali in the park outside the Cellular Jail. What hit her most was how little she knew about the man associated with the Mandalay conspiracy case, wherein members of the Ghadar Party were accused of conspiring to incite rebellion against British rule in India, among troops in Mandalay and other parts of Burma, in a series of trials in 1916 and 1917. 'I felt ashamed; I hail from Hoshiarpur, the same village as Bali in Punjab and hardly had any knowledge about the contribution of this Ghadar revolutionary,' she says. After returning home, Rana Preet began researching and seamlessly it led her on a journey to write The Ghadar Movement: A Forgotten Struggle, published by Penguin Viking. Several lesser-known revolutionaries of the Ghadar Movement find mention in the book, replete with rich anecdotes and in-depth research. 'I was intrigued by Ram Rakha, who went on a hunger strike and sacrificed his life. It aroused my curiosity about the Mandalay Conspiracy and I met many historians and gathered information. The research led me to the Ghadar Movement and the book was born out of my love for the martyrs. The library in Jalandhar, built by the Gadharites, is invaluable,' says Rana Preet. There were few books on members of the Ghadar Party,including a few by Bhagat Singh. Rana Preet decided to make the stories accessible. 'A majority of the literature available is academic and out of bounds for common readers,' she says. Her experience of writing two novels earlier motivated her to attempt this complex subject. . It took Rana Preet five years to complete the manuscript. The 38-chapter narrative, spanning 244 pages, is lucid, beginning with Bombay, Bengal, and Punjab under British Rule. It sets the tone with tales of bravery and transitions to the exodus of the Punjab peasantry to far-flung places including Burma, Malaya, Singapore, China, Iran, Egypt, and East Africa before exploring Canada and America. Stories about Sohan Singh Bhakna and Pandit Kanshi Ram are well constructed. Rana Preet is at her best when writing about the revolutionaries in exile- Shyamaji Krishnavarma, who owned the India House at 9, Queen's Wood, Highgate; Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Madam Bhikaji Rustom Cama, Ramnath Puri, a bank clerk from Lahore; Taraknath Das, who went abroad to master the art of revolution; Guru Dutt Kumar, who operated from Canada; Pandurang Khankhoje and Abdul Hafiz Mohammed Barakatullah `Bhopali', who was proficient in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, English, German and Japanese. Barakatullah travelled to England, America, Japan and was said to be a great advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity. Rana Preet highlights the allure and appeal of studying abroad during those times. Jawala Singh Thatthiyan, a 'prosperous potato farmer' near California, was at the forefront, offering scholarships to meritorious students. The scholarships began in 1912 and provided a monthly stipend of $ 50 in addition to study materials and travel expenses. The chapter on Lala Har Dayal, described as the Face of Ghadar, is one the most engaging. Inspired by the `Lion of Punjab', Lala Lajpat Rai, Lala Har Dayal left for England on a British Government scholarship in 1905 at the age of 21 and returned to India in 1908. 'After India attained independence, the Ghadar Party was officially disbanded. The premises on 5 Wood Street was handed over to the government of India marking the end of an era of revolution. But the spirit of Ghadar stayed alive. A living, breathing, formless, fiery spirit with a heart and soul,' says Rana Preet.
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Meet Sultana Begum, who claims to be great-granddaughter-in-law of the Mughals and owner of Red Fort-- Here's what SC says
In what sounds like a royal drama straight out of a historical soap opera, a woman recently approached the Supreme Court (SC) of India claiming that she is the great-granddaughter-in-law of the Mughals and so the rightful 'heir' of the Red Fort. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Yes, you read that right! Meet , who says she's the great-granddaughter-in-law of Mughal emperor , and here's how the SC responded to her claims. On Monday, a bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar dismissed her petition regarding Red Fort's ownership, calling it 'misconceived' and 'meritless', as per reports. Sultana's lawyer passionately argued that she's related to India's 'first freedom fighter,' hoping that would sway the court. But Chief Justice Khanna remarked, 'If we accept this, why stop at Red Fort? Why not Agra or Fatehpur Sikri too?' Sultana Begum's royal dreams crushed This isn't the first time that Sultana Begum attempted to reclaim the Red fort. The Delhi High Court (HC) had already rejected her petition earlier — not once but twice! First in 2021 and again in 2023, when they pointed out that she waited over 150 years to file the claim. Her excuse? Poor health and personal tragedy with the untimely death of her daughter. However, the court said wasn't convinced and did not buy her reasons. Why Sultana Begum claimed the Red Fort? Sultana Begum insists that after the 1857 revolt, when the British took control and exiled the last Mughal Emperor- Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Red Fort was wrongfully snatched from her family. She further claims that after India's independence from the British Rule in 1947, the Red Fort was illegally taken by the Government of India. And so, she considering herself as the rightful Mughal 'heir', Sultana Begum urged the court to either return the Red Fort to her or give her suitable compensation for it. But with the Supreme Court dismissing Sultana Begum's plea to own the Red Fort, and calling it baseless, it seems her royal dreams have come to an end. No Red Fort. No compensation. Just a royal no. What are your views on Sultana Begum's claims? Tell us in the comments section below. The Last Mughal Family Member Left to Struggle – Heartbreaking Story of Sultana Begum
