"What do you say to a few hoops?" "Are you out of your mind?" "Possibly." "I've been cooped up in a ship for five days." "Well I'm sorry for you, fella, but I gotta conserve my strength." "I..." "I get married on Tuesday." "Brilliant." "That's if I get back from Nanjing on time." "I drive for the Red Cross." "Really?" "You're going to Nanjing?" "Yeah." "Two days before my wedding." "I'd say that calls for a drink." " Okay." " Maybe I can help your plans along." "All right." "I repeat." "Nanjing is closed to the press." "Ask the Japs." "It's their call." "Not ours." "Barnes!" "This is my good friend Andy Fisher." " Fisher." "Terrific fellow." "He's here to see his girl." "I'm George Hogg." " Hi, Daisy." " Meet Roger Appsley." "An ungrateful shit from the British Embassy." "Mr. Fisher and I have already met." "Hey, there you are!" "Excuse me, gentlemen?" "That's his girl?" "He's marrying her on Tuesday." "He won't be here on Tuesday." "He's headed straight for hell himself in the morning." "You bastard!" "You've got him a pass to Nanjing?" "Barnes!" "How long have we known each other, you arsehole?" "Ten years?" "Will you excuse us, Mr. Appsley?" "Come on, Barnes..." "He's not press." "Andy Fisher." "Red Cross." "That's why he got a pass." "I made a deal with Andy Fisher." "He gave me his Red Cross papers and his truck." "They'll get us into Nanjing." "Barnes, we've got a scoop." "I'm Andy Fisher." "You're David Barcley." "We're accredited drivers for the Red Cross, bringing medical supplies to Nanjing." "In this..." "Andy Fisher's in love, Barnes." "He wants to get married." "Now everybody's happy." "Christ, you're nuts!" "Damn!" "Eddie!" "Eddie?" "Eddie Wei." "He's in the back." "You know." "The photographer from U.P." "I know who the hell he is." "But what's he doing here?" "He was desperate to come with us." "Set your watch an hour ahead, Daisy." "We're now on Tokyo time." "Do you want to know what they're saying in Tokyo?" "They say they're trying to help the Chinese." "But it's chaos over here." "Warlords, corruption, civil war." "The Nationalists against the Communists." "They say they're trying to restore order." "That's all bullshit." "They haven't declared war on China." "I'll tell you why they haven't declared war on China." "It's because if they don't declare war, they don't have to treat captured Chinese soldiers as prisoners of war." "They don't have to play by any goddamn rules at all." "The Japanese are not savages." "But they've decided the Chinese are." "Take a good long look, Daisy." "There's thousands of them, and they're all coming from Nanjing." "The next Great War's already begun." "The folks back home just don't know it yet." "The papers say we're both from the States." "So try and talk American." "Of course, old chap." "We're carrying Red Cross supplies... from the British Government." "This must be searched." "Excuse me, Lieutenant." "These goods have been sterilized." "Your men don't seem to understand... that these goods... must be delivered safely." "That's enough." "Go back." "Proceed." "If you're not back here by 9:00 tomorrow night," "I'll go without you." "Okay." "Good luck, Eddie." "Get me the cigarette." "You are safe now." "What's your name?" "What is your nationality?" "British?" "And you're a journalist?" "How did you know that?" "Nobody but a journalist would walk into Nanjing armed with nothing but a sports coat." "The enemy's patrol team is six streets away from us." "What is this place?" "What's going on?" "Who are you?" "It's the Tax Office." "And my name is Chen." "Han-Sheng Chen." "Han-Sheng Chen?" "Call me Jack, why don't you." "So, why were they going to kill you?" "The Japs usually leave British nationals alone." " I saw something I shouldn't have." " Got it." "I took photographs." "They found them." "Oh." "No wonder..." "Pardon my ignorance, but what are you doing in the Tax Office?" "They're killing people out there." "We are completely out-numbered here." "And the Japs are better armed." "So we are going to fight another day." "Hold this..." "But before we go, we're going to blow up a few buildings." "They are very orderly, the Japanese." "They hate it when we blow up a city's records." "Let's go out." "Hurry..." "Thank you." "Wait me out there." "We'll try for the British consulate." "They may be able to get you out of Nanjing." "You have to leave." "You have to tell the world what's happening here." "I love this part" "Come on." "Your friends should be this way." "Take it easy, Daisy." "I have a pass." "I have a pass in my pocket." "Shoot him!" "There's nothing we can do." "Shoot him!" "You're too reckless, George." "Shoot him..." "Shoot him..." "Hey..." "You were hit pretty bad." "Was I?" "I didn't feel a thing." "Must've been the cold numbing the pain." "Most of your blood's gone down the Yangtze." "But" " I decided you'll live." "I hope you're going to thank him for saving your life." "Thank you once again." "She was talking to me." "Right, Lee?" "So." "You are in a hospital bed." " What?" " You talk a lot in your sleep." "What about you?" "You didn't learn your English at Berlitz, if I may say so." "West Point." " I thought you were a Communist" " I am." "Figure it out yourself." "And when you do, you will understand much more about China." "I never thought of you as the kind to pick up strays." "Not male ones, anyhow." "I can't just dump him out here, can I?" "Well he won't be up to much for at least a month." "I can't get him back to Shanghai." "So, Miss Pearson." "Tell me what in God's name" "I'm going to do with a six-foot Oxford graduate" " who can't speak a word of Chinese." "Jack!" "Have you ever heard of a place called Huang Shi?" "You know I came back to China to teach engineering." "Now I'm teaching peasants how to blow things up." "To tell you the truth, it's much more fun." "Seriously." "Seriously." "I travel around to organize the resistance, and try to stay ahead of the Japanese army." "I have to leave tomorrow." "Take me with you." "How fit do I need to be to use a typewriter, for God's sake?" "I'm not worried about you." "I'm worried about the poor bastards who have to carry you around with them." "But there is a place up in the North-West." "It's called Huang Shi." "It's somewhere you can pick up good background material and work on your Chinese while you are convalescing, before you go on to the front." "Very good." "Did you understand it?" "I certainly did." "You said " ""Let me introduce myself."" ""I am a pumpkin."" "This area is controlled by the Communists - this by our Nationalist brothers-in-arms." "You will take the train as far as Pao-Chi here, and Huang Shi's right about here." "That's where you're going." " Chen?" " Hey!" "Get down!" "What's the matter?" "They're not the Japanese." "No." "They are not." "They're the government troops of Chiang Kai-Sek." " Nationalists?" " Yeah." " I thought you were brothers." " Sometimes." "I thought you were fighting together against the Japanese." "When it suits them - or us." "This could be one of those times." "Or maybe not." "What are they doing here?" "They are conscripts." "From the south." "They like to take them far from their homes, so they are less likely to run away." "They're trapped..." "Leave." "Hurry!" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Who's in charge here?" "This is for the person in charge." "I said, this is for the person in charge." "Esteemed Headmaster..." "I have the pleasure of introducing... the great Oxford University scholar..." "George..." "Pig." "I am in charge, Mister..." "Pig." "It says 'Pig'." "How is it you speak English?" "I'm not a peasant like these others." "I am Liu Shi-Kai." "My father is a Government Official." "Hello?" "You think I can cook with just a pot?" "Come and see..." "I have nothing..." "look." "All I have is this." "Grown-ups." "Teachers." "Where?" "Gone... all gone." "Do you have any rice?" "Get up." "Get up." "Hurry" "Who's there?" "Miss Lee" "The boys have taken the Englishman." "That's enough!" "Touch him again..." "I'm out of here forever." "She's bluffing." "You give me one good reason why I should be bluffing, Shi-Kai." "Here." "Let me take a look at that." "You're the nurse, aren't you?" "Lee..." "Lee Pearson." "How do you do?" "I'm George " "I know who you are." "It was my idea to send you here." "'The great Oxford University scholar.'" "Jack Chen has given you quite an introduction here." "Except he's called you 'Mr. Pig'." "It's not that funny." "He's a very nasty bit of work, that one." "I can't think why." "He only saw his father beheaded, his mother raped and beheaded, his sister raped and beheaded..." "After that they lined him up on the edge of a pit" "He's a smart kid." "He waited until he felt the guy next to him get hit" "Stop." "Please." "Nanjing." "I was there." "Jack told me." "That's why I thought you'd be good here." "You're going to need a Chinese name, you know." "One they can actually say." "Ho-ke." "You're out of your mind if you think I'm staying here." "I didn't come half way round the world to play nanny to a bunch of savages." " Okay." " So in the morning, if you'd kindly point me in the direction of the war and I'll be off." "I said okay." "Why do they give you such a wide berth?" "Out here people die all the time." "Typhus, cholera, tetanus." "Anyone gives me any trouble," "I just tell them:" "'One day you graze yourself." "You'll think it's nothing.'" "'Next day you wake up with a fever.'" "'You think it's a cold." "That's all.'" "'Pretty soon your bones ache, your jaw locks, your teeth clamp together... ' '... and slowly, very, very slowly, you die of tetanus.'" "In my bag I have vaccines when I can get them." "If I go, the bag goes with me." "So..." "Who's going to mess with me?" "Why don't they just close this school and send the boys home to their families?" "This isn't a school." "It looks like a school." "This is an orphanage." "Every one of them has a story, just like Shi-Kai's." "Now you want to find your war," "Mr. Hogg?" "Look around." "Because they don't need a teacher." "What they need is someone who can make them care whether they live or die." "The beds are crawling with lice." "The kids are too." "How adorable." "No joke." "Body lice carry typhus." "Okay." "Now for the boys." "What are you going to do?" "Boil them?" "Jolly good!" "Flea powder." "I haven't been able to get my hands on any before." "But the thing is to figure out how to make them understand it won't hurt." "I'm sure you'll manage." "Ho-Ke has lice on him." "Scratch." "The lice could make him sick." "This powder will kill the lice... but will do him no harm to him." "Smile." "So Ho-Ke is very happy." "Now take off your clothes." "Oh, for Pete's sake, it's nothing I haven't seen before." "Hands..." "Slow down" "Don't do that, the water is cold." "Here's to you, George." "I haven't had a real coffee since Shanghai." "So, why China?" "Because it's in trouble." "Because everyone back home is waiting for the shoe to drop" " waiting for the next war." "It's like being stuck in a cellar waiting for a storm to break." "I went to the States first." "Hitchhiked across the country - twice." "But they're hunched down in their bunk holes even deeper than we are." ""War?" "What war, mister?" "We're in a Depression here."" "And so then I went on to Japan." "Learned some Japanese." "And they'll tell you they don't want war either" " just ask them." "And then I went to Nanjing." "And I saw unspeakable things." "I begged Jack Chen to kill a man." "I never knew I had hate like that in me." "Everybody feels hate sometimes" "No." "Not us." "You see, my family are pacifists." "And not just your quiet, normal, private pacifists oh no, they're famous for it." "My mother had Gandhi to tea." "And my father went to jail during the last War." "He's the bravest man I know." "And now I think they're wrong." "I think there are times one must fight." "Couldn't sleep?" "Me neither." "One of the kids had 'the runs.'" "God-awful mess." " You can keep the mule, by the way." " You're leaving?" "I've got a bunch of medical stations to run." "I only stopped off to bring you that grain." "My guess, it'll last you about three weeks." "After that, you'll have to try to find them something." "It's up to you." "But when will you be back?" "May." "But this is March!" "They're like kids anywhere, George." "They need to be warm, safe, clean and fed." "Now if you can manage even one of those, you'll be ahead of the game." "Now you listen to me." "I'm not staying here." "You find someone else!" "There is no-one else." "You have to stay, George." "Bugger." "It keeps the wind out." "Rip it off." "You." "Come and help me?" "Yes, you." "Come." "Thank you" "Stones" "Chair." "Chair." "Student." "Student." "Student." "That's you." "Teacher." "I guess that means me." " Student." "Teacher." " I'm looking for Merchant Wang." "Where would I find Merchant Wang?" "Hello, My name is Hogg" "I am looking for Merchant Wang" "Please excuse my poor house, Mr. Hogg." "It has fallen on evil times." "The war?" "War." "Revolution." "Also gambling." "Also opium." "So many ways to spend money and to get nothing in return." "I take only solid currencies." "If you can only pay in Chinese dollars, then the price," "I'm afraid, will have to double." "I should like to pay in vegetables." "Vegetables are solid currency." " English humour." " You advance us the food and the seed" " we do all the work." "You take your share of the harvest." "Crops fail, Mr. Hogg." "What is this?" "Durham wheat." "Last year's harvest." "Red lentils." "I shouldn't think they'd do well in this climate." "We can do business." "Please come again, Mr. Hogg." "And send my regards to Miss Pearson." "Yes, of course." "Hope god will listen to us" "Let us have a good harvest" "It's good to be back." "I'm sure you'll be pleased." "Wei-Ping." " 'Dohh'" "Say it in English." "This is a dog." "Doh." "Dog." "Do-g." " Dog." " Dog." "Dog." " Dog." "Don't be afraid." "Dog..." "Dog..." "Dog..." "Why the lamp is off?" "Shi-kai!" "Don't!" "Oh Shi-Kai..." "You won't be able to save him, you know." "You might be able to limit the damage he can do." "No more." "You never told me what brought you here, Lee." "Freedom, I guess." "And what happens?" "I end up in a dark hovel with centuries of soot falling on my head doing an amputation by candlelight." "You're a surgeon, then?" "When a man's dying of gangrene, he tends not to check the letters after your name." "When there's no-one else, you do what has to be done." "I'm not really a nurse, either." "Just like you." "You're not really a teacher." "We're all something different in China." "That's why we came." "I was supposed to be an Army wife in Manila, but I couldn't play bridge." "Funny how life works out." "What on earth?" "It's my one treasure." " Do you dance, George?" "Oh, come on." "Sure you do." "It's good to see you, Lee." "Are you going to stay?" "Oh, I think so." "Awhile." "And you?" "I think so." "Yes." "You know nothing!" "You stupid Gansu peasant." "Let's take a look at this." "Now let me see here..." "That's horrible." "Brush your teeth every day." " Ching..." " Oh, you can do it, just fine." "Just fine." ""Though I am old with wandering..." ""Through hollow lands and hilly lands..."" "Ho-Ke..." ""I'll find out where she has gone..."" ""And kiss her lips and take her hands"" ""And walk among the long dappled grass..."" "Ching?" "It's all right." "You're safe." "Nobody's going to hurt you, Ching." "How's Uncle Jing today?" "His tumor is worse" " and he wants more pipe." "It'll kill him now." "Maybe that won't be such a bad thing." "I heard today, the Nationalists have found a solution to the 'opium problem'." "They're going to behead all the addicts." "I heard the same thing." "Addicts - and people who deal in opium." "The Japanese behead you for being Chinese." "So, Miss Pearson." "What can I do for you?" "I was hoping you might have some sulfa powder." "Nobody's got sulfa powder." "Not even the Japanese." "It will be sad for your friend." "Nobody to talk to but those boys." "I think he will be lonely." "I think he'll be just fine." "You say that because you are never lonely." "Well you should go visit him, if you think he's so lonely." "I don't have time for the problems of people with no problems." "What do you have in the way of morphine?" "That's all you've got?" "No." "But you're not my only customer." "Take opium instead." "You know what they say about opium." "You still feel the pain, but it doesn't hurt any more." "Six months ago they were filthy, starving, diseased" " and of no value to anyone." "And now..." "I'm very impressed." "I have to confess, Mr. Hogg." "I did not think you could do it." "I have to confess, Mrs. Wang, neither did I." "I hope you will do me the honor of accepting a small gift." "Good Lord, it's in English." "Where did you get it?" "A Missionary gave it to me for being a... very good girl." "'The Silk Road.'" "It was the link between the East and West for more than two thousand years." "It seemed appropriate." "Thank you." "May it seal our friendship." "Yes." " Where have you come from?" " Lingbao." "Lingbao?" "We've walked for two days." "I hate Japanese jet" "Don't worry, they often fly over." "What's his name?" " Number Four." " Lao Si." "And they are..." "let's see..." "Number One." "Number Two." "Number Three." "Number Four!" "Lie Down" "They are turning back, who are they?" "Try to sleep." "No." "No." "Lao Si." " Ching?" " He's too young." "Good night." "Not wounded!" "Not wounded!" "Get him out of here!" "Get him something to eat!" "We've had forty, no, fifty guys in here today who are nothing but piles of bones held together by their uniforms." "They're dying of hunger, not gunshots, Jack." "The Nationalists are starving their own army." "What's the point of our being here?" "None." "They are letting the Japs have Lingbao." "I've been ordered to evacuate." "Well my wounded won't survive being moved." "Take the ones that will." "Why are you taking off your uniform?" "I thought I'd stick around a little longer prepare a little welcome for the Japs." "Hurry." "Send the most injured first." "I'll make them as comfortable as I can." "You know that." "Be careful." "Leave right away." "You get on this car." "Jack!"