The Good Earth (1937) Movie Script
This is the day!
Yes yes Loo! I'm up!
Quiet! Quiet! You'll wake father!
Here friend!
And eat a little bit more for once!
Morning medley!
Morning! Morning!
So today's the day!
The day! Hay hay!
Tomorrow's another world's waters
Another!
I know! I know! Who does it! Ha! Ha! Ha!
ShouZheng! Where's my hot water?
My lungs are cold!
It's ready father
I'm too old
to wait for my food like this
Tomorrow a woman
will bring food to us both
Yeah she'll eat food too
and there's little enough for any of us
Until the harvest
and if the rain don't come
there won't be a harvest!
Tea? Have you lost your mind?
Tea is like eating silver!
But this is the day father,
if the woman brings us luck,
we may never go hungry again
Tea! Waste!
You think she'll be an ugly woman?
Hum! If things go on like this
Someday the bridegroom would want to see
the bride before they marry them!
Well then
I won't have a pock mark woman!
Or the one with split lip!
Now then are you a farmer's son or not?
Your woman must work as your mother did
And bear children like she did,
6 sons like mine!
Your tea will be cold.
True! True!
5 sons dided
in the years of flood and famine
Your mother worked on
with me until she died
Now I know that she was the one,
the best a man could have
But I'll tell you one thing,
your woman is not deformed
Thank you father!
Now there it is!
Water enough to bring a crop to fruit
Must you waste it?
I haven't wash my body
all at once since the new year!
That won't do
starting a new woman like this!
Tea in the morning
water in all this wasting!
Father? Well what is it? What is it?
I'll be grateful to you
if it would please you to ask my friends
for a feast tonight?
No!
A very small feast?
It's only this once?
No no no no no!
Spend for a feast, make way for a famine
Good morning father Wong!
It's going to rain!
It is unlucky to mention it!
I haven't said it would rain!
I haven't said it!
Here's some
very bad wine for the bridegroom
This gift is much too good for my son
Oh is miserable wine!
Where's the bridegroom?
He's washing his whole body!
Is that my friend Wong Loong?
Shing! That's my son!
Wasting good water
before the rains come!
Uh but the rains will come!
And what's on
the top of the water to you,
a man who lives to see his grandson
Young men and fools are alike,
until the gods teach them wisdom
And asking your
few friends for a feast tonight
A very small feast,
if you'll come my son will be honoured
You were boys together. Shing!
Ha ha ha ha!
This is the day!
Chickens! Good buy! Eat!
Good your blood and pure your liver!
Peaches, 6 for 2 coppers!
Now then what?
I'm Wong Loong, the farmer
Well, and Wong Loong the farmer what?
I'm coming... I'm coming...
Are you seeing that? I see you a fool!
There's a woman to be...
Ha ha ha! So you're he!
You're the bridegroom!
I thought you're the peddler!
Why do you bring a basket?
Are you gonna carry that the whole day?
The bridegroom! He comes!
The bridegroom! He comes!
The bridegroom!
He's here! The bridegroom!
He's here! The bridegroom!
You fool, get up!
Your farmer's come,
he smells like a stable!
Nobody giggles!
Is all wreck crack yours?
Open it! Open it!
To see what's in it
There's a thief in every kitchen
When did you steal these?
My mother gave'em to me
Save it for your own brats!
Pick up your eggs! Hurry!
This dress, the kitchen slave
This woman came into my house
when she was a child
Her parents were farmers
but during the famine
they sold her to me for food.
She has a strong body,
and will work for you
in your house and your fields.
Take her and use her well!
Oh Lang! Over him!
And bring him many sons
Bring the first son for me to see
Well? Go go go go!
Take the box!
Peaches! Fresh peaches!
Good peaches are the friend!
Good your blood and pure your liver!
Peaches! Fresh peaches! Thank you!
Peaches! Fresh peaches!
They're yours!
Eat for yourself
A tree will grow from the seeds
Hey, hey! Let him be!
For very silent says she's a good cook!
An excellent cook!
I am an old man and I have never
tasted such food before!
Oh no it's very poor food!
Very badly prepared,
the woman can't cook at all!
My friends,
my poor farm barely produces enough
to keep my family alive
But tonight,
I rejoyce that my brother's son
has been favoured by him
Are you, you, how beautiful it is,
and how pretty, nephew?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Forgive me!
Poor Zon! He faked and shaved
and hope we will all go home!
No no no no!
Your presence delights him!
Then we'll all stay till cockcrow!
May you have many grandsons!
And she might beg for the first one!
You want my old bones!
Brother, your joy is mine!
Nephew! Now that
the woman will work in the house,
you might help
your old uncle in the fields?
Alas I...
Good night!
Good night!
Good night!
Good night!
Good night!
Night! Night!
It will grow!
This is good land!
An old one,
my ancestors came here long ago!
And they sleep in it!
My father ploughed it,
and it's mine!
The best the man can have!
Now it belongs to us both!
It's raining!
Why did you put up your hand?
Were you afraid?
Afraid of me?
Were they cruel to you
in the Great House?
No one will be cruel to you here!
I am with child
Enough for the day,
We'll tell old father
Why have you left the field?
She is with child already!
Hey hey! She want me to be a grandfather
I shall go prepare food
Yes food food food!
I know nothing of these things,
when the child is born you need a woman.
Perhaps
here's a woman in the Great House
Someone you knew in the kitchen!
Not in that house!
Well, We're all men here!
There must be someone
in the Great House...
I'll never go back, in that house
It will be with my son in the house
I'll have a red coat on it,
and a red flower trousers,
and a hat with a buddha and tiger,
and I'll go back to the kitchen
where I spend my days as a slave
And into the great hall
where all the mistress
sits with their pipe
and I'll show myself
and my son to all of them
Well, well
I haven't heard you speak so many words
since you came into this house!
Now then, why are you
not in the fields today?
The wheat must be cut!
Today I shall not go into the fields
Look! Dark clouds!
Rain? We'll loose the harvest!
We'll starve this winter!
Bring the others!
Hey hurry with the wheat!
There's hail in that storm! Let's go!
Help me load the cart!
What is it? Is it the child?
I get a woman
No! Go back to the wheat!
I play my king correctly!
No you didn't!
You lost every game correctly!
Of course! How did I know what he had?
You might have looked over his shoulders
But I didn't!
You gave me the wrong sign!
Hey! What did I tell you?
And you made me play another game
while this was happenning!
Is it a man? Is it a man?
A man! A man-child has been born!
Behold we have a son!
A man-child! A man-child!
I'm a father!
And you're a grandfather!
Hey Hey!
I never could get my wife
to work the way
that woman did,
with a child about to be born
If it weren't indignified,
I'd tell her that she's a good wife!
Nephew! I rejoyce with you!
It's nothing that I lost my own wheat
helping with the child, nothing!
Hear him! Huh huh!
I'll get eggs, and dye them red
for the whole village
Everyone must know I have a son!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Oh my son is very pleased!
Oh it was a dismal noise!
No no! Very good noise!
Now then!
Those cakes are not to be eaten!
Well! And I am poor
but at least I can be honest!
My dear nephew, please add this fowl
to the little coloured eggs
which you hadn't offered me!
But they are gift for the Great House!
Very bad for the stomach,
only fit for rich people,
if they are not too rich to accept them
Those people
are not as rich as you think!
They are feeling pinch this year
I've heard that they are selling land
Land? Selling land?
I heard it yesterday from their agent,
At the gambling tea house
Well, am I asked to fill my cup
in this house of properity?
Huh... please please!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
What have I not thought of...
A good new year, a triumphant new year!
Good night!
Good bye!
We could buy land, from the Great House!
Rice land!
Now then, if we lost our wheat
we'll have no money
But we haven't!
But how close it was!
Between this money and nothing
Not even food!
When a man has 2 fields, or 3 fields
he can loose his wheat
and still have food
That rice land is sure!
Had to be sure again
I'd even go to the Great House
and buy it!
Do you think They'd kill me?
Well, well! I'm not afraid!
I go to the Great House to say,
to tell'em
I've got an important business
Money is concerned
What is a fair price,
I have it in my hand!
Well it was a good thought
But what use is a good thought then?
If no one agrees with it?
And the child! A beautiful child!
A beautiful boy! Boo boo boo boo!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Here's the son of Wong Loong!
Here's the son of Wong Loong the farmer!
He's a man-child!
He's a man-child!
Miss Oh Lang,
Wife Wong the farmer and her son
you will announce them to ancient one
And you say her child would be a female
ha ha ha ha! A female!
Quiet! I'll cut off your own hands!
Um! He has a sickly look
Very pale and green
Let's hope he won't die before Spring!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Stop that cackles!
Hurry woman! Must I waste the whole day?
Hey hey hey!
He's a beautiful child!
He's a beautiful child!
Hey hey hey!
You won't believe she laughed!
And say he's a beautiful child!
She said those words
"a beautiful child"!
Well she said no more than the truths!
And I saw not
one slave in all that house
with a new coat like mine!
And why should you go about
like a wife of a common fellow?
I can afford a piece of cloth I think!
Now I have 2 fields!
I bought it today from the Great House!
The land?
They said it was less than an inch
And took all that silver
as if it were nothing!
And the foolish clerks
who don't own a foot land
laughed the goose clack at me
'cause I couldn't write my name!
But I'll buy again and again!
Until my land is more than an inch!
Even in a house of a prince!
Look here farmer!
Someday all this will belong to you!
And you'll be a prince too!
And I'll buy more land
and more land and...
What a pity! We're so poor!
We have nothing!
And the child is nothing!
Yes yes! Is less than nothing!
And it's only a female,
and it's covered with small pox as well!
Yes yes! Only a female,
and covered with small pox,
as well!
You mighty gods! You wise gods!
You've been good to me, for many years
you've been good to this humble person;
I had only 1 field, now I have 5!
I had only 1 child, now I have 3!
My eldest son
planted his first rice today!
My youngest son
is big enough to lead the ox!
My third child is only a female,
but I won't reproach you for that!
Excuse me!
Now we haven't forgotten you!
We brought you
fine new rogues of red paper
so you won't forget me!
You send me rich harvest this year also
and you persuade my uncle,
to work a little now and then.
And not ask for money so often
And if he does,
please allow my husband to refuse him!
I'll do that anyway!
Very gracefully!
Wong Loong! Come up!
Wong Loong come up here!
Wong Loong!
Wong Loong will know,
he'll know what it is!
Wong Loong! How would he know?
He is as slow witted as my woman!
Hey hey! Well! And what now?
Look! Look!
An army!
No! Virgins perhaps?
So many?
People from the North! But why?
There must be famine in the North!
They're going south where there's food!
Famine!? Ha ha ha!
What ideas you have!
The woman is right!
I have seen it before!
That's what happens
when a man has only 1 field!
But I have 5!
We must thank the gods
for giving me so much foresight!
What talk is this!?
Forgive him!
My son he's young and stupid
and talks too much!
It was famine that made me a slave!
It dries even if we carry it!
Well if the vines starve,
we'll all starve!
The wheats' gone! And the rice!
The more my fields
I have only this handful of beans!
Mother! Mother!
You know we're not thieves!
But the ox is mine!
We're hungry! Our children are hungry!
You should help us!
If I have money I would help you!
My nephew! You can sell your land!
Sell my land?
Yes!
But then the money is gone,
and the land!
At least we could
live well through the famine!
What good is this land now?
You're young,
you don't know what a famine is like!
My father knew years of famine,
but he kept the land
I must keep it for my sons!
The earth is good,
if we work it would feed us
But how am I to live?
How am I to live?
Work! As I do!
I'll not rob my sons to feed you!
You you! Must we go hungry
while you have land?
This land that you won't sell!
I'm not selling my land
It's my life, it's mine!
I'll never sell it,
I'll dig up the earth
first and feed it to my children
Yes! And you'll bury them in it!
He's my friend, my friend
We're not hungry!
Mercy on me you powerful ones!
I starve and my woman starve,
and there's no one
to give me a handful of rice!
There's one who has plenty,
but he's a rich man!
And rich's hardened the heart,
soften his heart
o powerful ones,
that he may give me a little
out of his abundance!
Would not a man sell his lands
unless he has foods
to give his children?
He has food! And I starve!
He has food! And these good men starve!
Well, what?
You have food! We're starving!
You have food! Food!
I have nothing!
I dig for roots, for my children
You have food hidden! Food and silver!
Food? Find it!
He's got it he's got it!
Wong Loong has food!
I told you, he has food!
But... it's earth!
It takes hunger, and it's warm
Ching! Hunger makes man mad!
Come come! You're little man now!
You won't cry!
Look! Your sister doesn't cry!
Little one she never cries now
What is it? Why?
If you could have a little food
you'd have the strength
to bring the child
I'll find it.
Tomorrow I...
When have you had food?
There's a thing in me that hurts,
and not hunger, that a man has no words
No words, but I know!
Oh Lang, the earth has forgotten us!
The earth... I hate it! I'll sell it!
No! For a constant length! No!
No not the land! Not the land!
We're ready nephew
Are you safe? Yes, safe
Huh! Another mouth to feed.
My poor man!
For the sake of your children,
we'll give you
a better price for your land
than you can get
anywhere else in these times
We'll give you 12 pieces of silver
What? 12 pieces?
For all my land?
Huh! I paid a 100 times that much!
But who was starving then?
Please! Please!
And well you know I must sell
No! Not the land!
We'll not sell the land
We'll keep it, we'll go south
And when we return
we'll still have the land
But I've arranged it!
I brought these men here,
you must sell!
Is it your land?
Did you buy it bit by bit?
The land is our life
and it's better to go south,
or die walking, than to give it to you,
for nothing!
What a pity! What a pity!
How can you walk anywhere?
With the child?
The child is dead! Dead?
But I heard it cry?
The child is dead!
What do you say father?
Shall we ride in this fire wagon?
It ain't safe for your old back
He said it crawls on these iron poles!
Grandpa says it's a god of fire!
These wagons chained together
Do it again find a thing?
We sit in it while it walks off!
With these mats we can build a home
Well then get to work!
Get to work all of you!
You'll look at me and listen!
Take the bowel in your right hand so
and hold it out to everybody that passes
and cry out to them:"
A heart good sir! A heart good lady!
A good deed and you shall prosper!
The small cash, a coin you throw away!
Feed us starving child!"
Have a kind heart!
A good deed that bring you fortune!
The small cash the coin you throw away
give for the child died!
Have a kind heard!
A good deed to bring you fortune!
The small cash feed the starving child!
Feed the good fortune!
Bring you a good heart!
Small cash for starving!
Poor little child!
Feed the good fortune!
Bring you a good heart!
Small cash for starving!
Hey hey! Have a kind heart good sir!
A good...
Well? And today? Nothing!
No work of any kind!
For things a beast should do,
there were a 100 men, fighting!
It would have been better to starve,
in our own land,
than to come to this great city,
where there's no work for a man's hands!
It will come!
Now then must I wait
for my meat any longer?
Meat? Hey hey hey!
It's the only meat
we have since we killed the ox!
You must have begged
from a prince today!
It's mine!
Where did you get meat?
I took it from an old woman!
You stole it? You thief!
Thief! Thief!
Meat is meat
Do we have to steal
or beg for it to live?
A man can't stand it here!
Our land is all in the north!
In times like this,
my parents found a way to go back;
they sold me
to the old mistress in the big house
You could sell little one?
I would sell her,
to take you back to the land
If it wasn't for me,
you would die before you'll sell her!
We won't sell her, not if I spend
my life in this wilderness
What is it? What happened?
He was pulling timber, he fell and died!
Where did he work? Where did he work?
At the great market!
Where are these soldiers going?
They say there's a revolution coming!
Revolution? What is a revolution?
I don't know,
but it has something to do with food!
Things are growing again
You were a farmer?
I own land in the north!
So did I! 10 years ago!
Why don't you go back?
You gotta have an ox!
You gotta buy seeds!
You gotta live, till you make the crop
I tried saving up for 10 years,
I'll never get back,
and neither will you!
I'll get back!
If I can pull that thing
I can pull a plough;
ox or no ox!
Listen my brothers!
Before the peasants close my mouth!
In a few days
China will be a free country;
the day of tyranny is over!
The revolutionary army is on its way;
they've been marching 30 miles a day!
Fighting in the rain in the north
Hey!
You hear him?
Yes!
But what does it all mean?
It's raining in the north!
Everyday in the south
as come to revolution!
All of China will soon be free!
Don't let them drag you from your homes;
that famine has driven you off course!
Soldiers! Soldiers!
Run! Soldiers!
What is it? What is it?
Why you shouting?
It's free! The revolution's here!
China's a republic!
Republic? What is a "republic"?
Hey what do they want?
Where are they going?
Into the great house of Lang!
It's all over the city,
a man can do what he like!
Aim! Fire!
No! No! I was hungry! Mercy!
No! I was hungry! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!
Aim! Fire!
Captain! Prepare to march!
Follow in!
Let them be a warning to you!
Free publicans are not bandits!
Order must be maintained
throughout the city!
You may go, but remember
anyone caught looting wiil be shot!
What haven't I seen?
What have I not seen!
I could never tell you!
Such things! Crowds! Oh I got through!
The city is mad!
They're robbing the rich!
Killing'em and burning'em!
The soldiers have
come down from the north!
Huh! It's well you were here,
it's well you were here!
Look! We can go back,
we can go back to the land!
Home, home! We are home! Home! Home!
Come! Hey! Down with you!
Run to uncles home,
tell'em Wong is home!
Tell all our friends,
tell'em I have great hungs!
Away with you! Ha ha ha ha!
This is yours! Thank you!
Take what you need!
Please! Take it all! The sack! AII!
Thank you!
AII! There's food for all
until the harvest!
We'll have more crops!
Thank you! Bye!
If you need more, come back!
We have plenty!
Ching
Wong Loong!
I see no face
in the city like yours, my friend!
These belong to you;
I kept'em in our house
Kept them? But it was starving!
Why don't you sell them?
I have no ploughs to...
But keep it!
Tomorrow I'll bring my ox and'em,
to help plough your field!
I have no field, I had to sell it!
Sell them?
Well you can come and work for me!
I've had luck in itself,
I have the mind to buy more land!
Will you come?
I'll come gladly
Nephew! Brother! My loved ones!
I predicted it! I predicted it!
I always said
if those southeners had anything,
my nephew would bring it home with him
But it's too late to help me,
I've had to sell my daughters
Well uncle,
anything you want and I have...
Nothing, nothing,
still if you could let me have a few
pieces of silver, 2 or 3, or 4?
4? Why? Take 10!
15! 20!
Why not?
I have this and more! I have jewels!
Jewels!
A handful! All colours!
Red ones white ones, come!
I want to feel my toes
in the earth again!
But there's something...
Well? Are you going to sell the jewels?
To buy the land?
Sell them? Why of course!
And what else would I do with them?
If I could have 2, only 2 small ones,
2 white ones...
The pearls? You?
No I wouldn't wear them,
I'm much too plain-Iooking
Oh I've never noticed it
But I could hold them
in my hands, sometimes
Thank you!
It's nothing! Nothing!
After all you, helped to find them
And you must wear them, yes
and you must be dressed
in ways becoming to them,
not as a poor farmer's wife!
We'll see to that!
We'll look after you!
We'll come and live with you!
We'll rebuild the house!
No this house is enough!
But no we must make it bigger!
We must have rooms for a household!
No no we were happy here!
We'll be happier!
We'll have men in the fields,
slave in the house
No slaves! Nothing!
But you must have a slave
until you're well again
I'm well now, see!
It's cured me; coming home
But you shall rest and have everything!
We'll live well and in comfort,
We'll be safe from hunger
as long as we live
Longer! Longer!
My nephew you're rich!
You can live like a great lord!
Why you can even pick a second wife!
Listen to him! Listen to him!
But why not? You have 2 oxens?
No! No but come along!
Second wife.
It is further agreed
that the above named seller,
Wong Lung, shall deliver
to the respected merchant,
Liu Fong Kee, the set wheat
as and when same harvested
Cost of transportation
to be born by the seller
It is agreed between
the above mentioned parties,
that the price
of this wheat is to be as follows:
"For each bushel of wheat,
4 pieces of silver
In the event of damage to the crop,
from storm, pest or other cause,
the worthy purchaser, Liu Fong Kee,
shall be held free
of any liabilities to accept this wheat"
Read that last paragraph
Um Mr Wong, I'm delighted to pay you
such a high price for your wheat,
even though my profit might be slight
Very kind of you to buy my rigid grain
The contract's ready father
Well it is time
But this contract is wrong!
This is the radical for wood,
it should be the radical for water
Change it then
We'll not put our names
to anything wrongly written!
Um Mr Wong, 2 clever sons like these,
are the better half of your wealth!
They're stupid worthless preachers,
If anything was driven
to their big bright skulls
it was by beating them!
Hee hee hee!
I told that teacher to beat them!
He beat them so well,
that this one's going to the universit
Indeed! If I'm not too unworthy
I hope to win a degree in agriculture!
A degree!? Agriculture!?
That's somekind of paper
that will make it rain just enough
But not too much! Hey hey hey!
And you? You going too?
No sir! I'll stay on my father's land,
when my brother returns
he'll show me
what more can be done with it
than we have done!
Now then that's talk enough,
take the money home
My ignorant daughter!
A beautiful girl!
Oh she has a wretched appearance!
Now you 2
might mix your blood in one bowl!
Oh but your daughter
is much too good for my son
Oh no! But you would never
come decend to such a marriage!
Oh but I couldn't presume
to look so high!
It's impossible! Quite impossible!
But, it might done
Yes indeed,
if you'll be good enough to consider it
in due time
I should think of it
night and day, good bye!
It would be modest of me to say
that this idea was mine, Good bye!
Ah! What a beautiful day!
That music! It seems to draw me
inspite of myself!
I'm not used to these places
Eh? I have no clothes!
I'm only a farmer!
I have work to do...
Work? Work!
You must learn to enjoy yourself!
There's more in the world
than earth and crops,
there're songs and dancing!
And girls who do these things elegantly!
Watch!
That must be the stairway!
Yes, shall we see what it feels like?
No no no!
No! I've never been off
the ground all my life!
She's like a dream person!
Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!
Quiet!
I told the thing
not to wake me till this time
Another feast?
The dragon feast, woman!
It's my duty to observe the old customs
My nephew insisted on it
Old customs indeed!
There's more than that with your nephew!
When the farmer buys silk, robes
and washes his whole body everyday,
there's a woman that should work!
But the rich man may have 2 wives!
But the wife must cling to her husband,
that is as it should be
That's right!
A woman of love and one is mistake!
Of course! Now then, it is said
you may see a tea pot with 4 tea cups,
but did you ever
see a tea cup with 4 tea pots!?
It is also said,
do you ever see 2 spoons
in the same bowl
that do not nod against each other!?
Well What is it? What is it?
Excuse me father, but you look like
the lord of the Great House.
Well! And that is not
as strange as you think!
I just... tell your mother
I wish to see her
Yes father, can you spare me a moment?
I must know what seed
to prepare for the Summer planting
Why trouble me about it?
Prepare the seed my son gives you!
These flowers are dead, Little One!
Your sister knows only happiness
Mother!
Is it a letter from your brother?
No mother! Father wishes to see you.
Oh! Forgot how chilly it was!
Are you well? Your pain, is it bad?
No it's nothing!
You sent for me?
Well, there's a thing I've done,
I bought the Great House!
The house of Loo!
Courts and land!
I'm the new lord there
Well? Have you no thanks?
I thought it would please you
to be mistress in that house,
where you lived as a slave
Our sons were born here...
They must have wives!
We'll have grandchildren,
there's room in that house to all!
You'll have a high place
with money to spend for slaves.
You must make yourself becoming to it!
Look at your hair! Your clothes!
You disgrace me!
One would think you're still the wife
of a common labourer!
Wear the pearl you have
The pearls? I have them!
You would never wear them
Why I look at them sometimes
I need them, give them to me
I know that I'm ugly,
and not to be loved
All that we have now came from you
That is the truth and I say it
But, but now...
But now?
There's a woman, not such a one as you;
not as good as you,
it's like a sickness!
When I'm with her, it's not enough!
When I'm not with her, there's nothing!
Even the land is nothing!
Then it will be better
when she's in your house
You'll say that?
Is it your wish?
Yes
Let it be then!
Ou lang, what is there more to say?
Nothing
Who is it?
Nothing
Who is that man going out the gate?
He look something like my son, Lung!
Now then what?
I'm Ching the farmer
Well Ching the farmer what?
I have business with Wong the farmer
Wong the farmer?
This is the great house of Wong!
He's the lord here!
There's a bad woman in the house!
There's a bad woman in the house!
Bad woman!
Father hush!
It's his second wife
I say it's a bad woman!
I had but 1 woman...
and my father had but 1 woman,
and we farm the land!
Come father,
it's he and his second wife!
I'm tired, I want my tea
The old man is childish,
nobody listens to him,
but he shall be kept away!
I'm hated in this house,
how can I be happy here?
But, what can I do?
I have to sit here, shut in all day,
if I stood out there they whisper
and look at me hatefully!
Where can I walk in the evening?
If I had the garden,
if I had the garden all mine;
with singing birds in the pavillion,
the fountain with fish.
But the money...
Then it's money that you love
No no! Little Flower!
But it will not be
easy until the harvest
I must see, I must see,
my younger son keeps the accounts
But these're few little things
If you love me, if I please you
It shall be done! Anything! Anything!
Becareful! My pearls!
I may come in?
Does my music disturb you?
Oh no! No I like it!
I listen sometimes
I play it because I'm Ionely
I have so much to talk and laugh,
but there's no one
I'm sorry, I'm very sorry!
You must excuse me I have some business
with the grain merchants
If you'll please I must go!
Then you'll pass by the shops
Yes?
Would you mind
giving him these for a bottle?
With silver?
Why um yes! Yes!
But you won't misunderstand
Why should I?
When a woman gives her slipper to a man?
But I shouldn't tell you
Oh no please!
Well then it means he's taking her fancy
But you ask me to have it guilded?
But the bottle doesn't need guilding,
it's pure silver!
Here's a letter from your brother,
will you read it to me
Of course mother!
Now then, we'll hear
what our scholar has to say
"First, I am ashamed of my ignorance.
But I am not ashamed
to inquire of my teachers.
Each day I learn
new ways of bring about nature's
facts in case
nature herself should fail us."
What does he say?
He says
he's learning many things to help us.
But is he happy there?
Does he say he need anything?
No mother
"I miss my beloved
father and mother deeply.
And I'm eager to share
the happiness of our new home."
Mother, I want to go away too!
Go away?
To the wars! I'll be a soldier!
Now then what madness is this?
Well I've heard stories
of war and plunder and battle,
and I hate this house!
And I'll go!
I wish she'll stop that music!
Now this house is full of silences
I was reading mother
a letter from the older brother
Would you like to hear it?
If he's well it can wait!
But there's more
in your face than the letter!
He'll be a soldier
A soldier! Now then,
men don't take good iron to make an ail,
nor a good man to make a soldier
It would be a disgrace
to me a man of serving land
to have a son who's a soldier!
But I'm nothing in this house!
If you're lost in this house
go back to the land!
Help Ching until the harvest
Put an alert on yourself!
That's good for any man!
Well if the land
isn't fit for you anymore
it isn't fit for me!
Now all these stuff I don't know
He's come to the age of tempers
and weeping
When I was a lad I had no such tempers!
You worked on the land;
but he's like a young lord!
And he's been alone here
And you worry his age to have a bride
But I was given a sla...
My marriage cost my father nothing!
The boy's our son!
He would be better dead
than here with this woman!
What? You're dreaming!
Even she hears it who has nothing else;
it feels all this house
the woman of cause
she's bored and your son is young...
Enough!
Gossip! Kitchen gossip!
That's where you came from!
Where you wished to live,
live there then!
Eat 'n sleep we will,
but between you and me
there's nothing! Nothing!
The man is loon here
What are you doing in the house?
There's work to be done in the fields
But, what is it?
You're weeping, and you must do it
and man can be sorry
But why do you weep?
There's food for everyday
And fire!
Sometimes a man gets
a longing for his fields
Well, if it pleases you to come up again
and working them, they're yours!
No it's better for my son to come;
in the house he pulls against the yolk
He has all the freedom here he wants!
Where is he today?
He comes and goes!
Sometimes 1 day, sometimes 2
I thought you knew
I knew nothing!
I spend my time in town!
Why don't you tell me
you slow witted ox!
Why should I tell you
what everyone's been saying?
For weeks!
What?
Well...
Well speak!
If you have eyes and ears you'll know
Know? Know what?
That the second wife and your son is...
Liar!
Get off my land.
Well, it's been a long time with us
Take what belongs to you and go
I came to you with nothing,
I'll go with nothing
Good day master! Good day!
Ah! Father!
Get out! Out of my sight!
Good bye mother
Mother! Mother you're ill,
you should have a doctor
It's nothing
Where you go you ought to tell me
They say there's a war in the north
Sometimes in wars
there are those who die
Well if that's best, let it be!
When I'm gone,
you must see to the harvest
we almost did it already,
the clerk will tell you how much
I will see to it
If you must go,
there's a thing to be done
Speak to your father
No no I can't!
You're his youngest son
Father father!
I am going away
I...I only want to tell you that I...
how I... if you could forgive me
But go!
Nephew! We're ruined! Everything's gone!
And I predicted it! I predicted it!
What's happened?
I knew it, I ran miles to tell you
What is it?
I forgive everybody
What is it?
This!
Locusts!
The flying plague!
Well! Let them come!
But the lion, the harvest!
What can we do against the gods?
It's not the gods!
It's a thing of nature! We can fight it!
Have you ever seen a plague of locusts?
No but...
I have! They came in millions
The air is black with them and stinky
And where they come down
there's nothing left!
Not a green of wheat!
Not a blade of grass!
Not a leave nor flower! Nothing!
And can you fight that with your book?
Forgive me!
I mean no disrespect for my elders,
but I speak for what I heard at school!
And I heard this:
"That a man is a slave to the earth,
or its master
and when it turns against him,
he must fight it!"
We can fight these creeping things!
If we save but 1 field,
it would a new thing in all this land,
and the best in a thousand years!
This thing can be done?
Show us how to do it!
If it'd please you,
come on to the fields!
Now look!
The locusts will come down here,
the wind blows between these hills
There! Like a whirlpool,
if it blows the locusts
they'll come down there
and no other place!
I saw it! As a boy!
They came down there!
And they were gone,
with a change of wind
But the crops, were gone with them!
But that's the thing!
We can hold them off
till the wind changes!
We must take a fire break
along these hill tops
Make a wall of fire!
But my wheat
lights on fire in a fire wall!
And mine! And mine! And mine!
I'll pay for
what is eaten and what is burnt!
We'll get kerosene,
bring it in carts!
The fire stuff,
it makes a quick, high flame
We can fight everything
behind this wall!
If they break through,
we'll wind the ditch behind the fire;
a wall of water!
It will fail!
If it fails,
we'll fight them with torches!
With noise! With our hands!
If we can hold them off until
the wind picks them up again,
we can save at least those fields!
It can't be done!
It must be done!
All you have
and all I have depends on it!
You think I'm rich?
But if I lose
this harvest there's nothing!
If I save anything I'll share it!
Yeah yeah yeah!
Let the men dig and women,
let the old men and boys make torches,
gather all things that'll make a noise!
Bring the fire stuff!
Get the oxens and ploughs,
sickels, spades!
Everyone! Hey hey! Useless! Useless!
I'll stay where it's safe!
Faster! Faster! Make that thing wider!
Up here! Hurry! Hurry!
Bring the fire stuff!
Come on men, hurry!
Torches.
Millions! Millions!
My god!
See! They land in one place!
Yes, they fall!
Hey! Hurry with the fire stuff!
Load the fire stuff from here!
Get them! Get the torches!
Get the torches!
Light the fires!
All fire stop!
They are smothering the plains!
It's breaking through,
just as I predicted it!
Just as I predicted it!
Bring the water! Fill the ditches!
Fill the ditches!
They'll be eaten,
there's no doubt about it now!
No doubt about it!
That ditch will never hold them!
We must fight them with our hands!
Ourselves! Anything! Move!
Chen! Keep fighting! Don't give up!
We must keep fighting!
Everyone! We can!
There's the wheat! Save it!
The wind! The wind! The wind! The wind!
We beat them!
We beat them! We beat them!
Yeah yeah yeah! We beat them!
The farm! Victory!
Victory! We've done it!
The young master,
it's wonderful! He did it!
The son and his father,
the son to be proud of!
The father to be proud of!
The wise man in 3 generations!
But it's nothing!
Just a matter of oil and fire,
something we learn from books!
But I'm worn out! Worn out!
But we saved the crops!
The harvest is saved!
The gods are good!
What's the matter?
I'll call your husband
No no! Say nothing
He's on the land again,
with his sons, and this day's his,
and it must be!
You shall bring in the harvest,
and lead the workers!
Both of you!
And Ching is my steward!
Well! There's work to be done!
Yeah yeah yeah!
The harvest! Food! Food again!
And another thing must be done,
and you must do it,
quickly!
I? Work?
Go to the banker,
as a commisioner to be had,
and if you rob me a little,
it will be yours! For old time's sake!
I will sell the Great House!
Sell? But why?
The harvest is saved, you'll have money!
You can live like a lord!
All that is finished!
I'll sell the Great House!
It's a wedding again!
But who?
It's your grandson's wedding!
And soon there'll be great grandsons!
Many of them! Many of them!
Please! Please!
Let him be! Let him be!
His cheek is as red
as this excellent wine!
Excellent indeed!
My stomach is very pleased!
Perhaps it's the lost of memory,
but I've never eaten such rice!
It's very bad rice.
The worst I've ever bought!
Grandchildren! Great grandchildren!
Have all the guests had rice?
Yes yes!
Is the sweet rice is hot,
with lard and sugar?
And the 8 fruits?
It's just as you wished
Mistrss! Your son's bride!
Well, and she's beautiful!
My daughter, look to your husband
and your husband's father,
and his granfather,
and you'll have no duty to any of them.
You must rest!
Everyone be here
not smiling because of me
Let them be, for the bride!
In good time! In good time!
For you'll be well again
Well, this thing is waiting
You can't speak of that,
and please me
I'm content,
and what must be done, you've done!
Bridegroom hasn't heard a word!
He's wishing we go home!
No no indeed I should be honoured
if you stay the whole even
Oh!
Do you remember?
Yes!
If a man could speak, there're things...
Some are forgotten
But now I know that you're the one;
that the best a man can have
Ou Lang! Ou Lang!
This I cannot bear
I'd sell all my land
if I could heal you!
No! I would not let you!
For I must die, sometime
But the land will be there, after me
I beg you! Stay here with me!
I can not!
Forgive me!
Ou Lang, you are the earth!
Yes yes Loo! I'm up!
Quiet! Quiet! You'll wake father!
Here friend!
And eat a little bit more for once!
Morning medley!
Morning! Morning!
So today's the day!
The day! Hay hay!
Tomorrow's another world's waters
Another!
I know! I know! Who does it! Ha! Ha! Ha!
ShouZheng! Where's my hot water?
My lungs are cold!
It's ready father
I'm too old
to wait for my food like this
Tomorrow a woman
will bring food to us both
Yeah she'll eat food too
and there's little enough for any of us
Until the harvest
and if the rain don't come
there won't be a harvest!
Tea? Have you lost your mind?
Tea is like eating silver!
But this is the day father,
if the woman brings us luck,
we may never go hungry again
Tea! Waste!
You think she'll be an ugly woman?
Hum! If things go on like this
Someday the bridegroom would want to see
the bride before they marry them!
Well then
I won't have a pock mark woman!
Or the one with split lip!
Now then are you a farmer's son or not?
Your woman must work as your mother did
And bear children like she did,
6 sons like mine!
Your tea will be cold.
True! True!
5 sons dided
in the years of flood and famine
Your mother worked on
with me until she died
Now I know that she was the one,
the best a man could have
But I'll tell you one thing,
your woman is not deformed
Thank you father!
Now there it is!
Water enough to bring a crop to fruit
Must you waste it?
I haven't wash my body
all at once since the new year!
That won't do
starting a new woman like this!
Tea in the morning
water in all this wasting!
Father? Well what is it? What is it?
I'll be grateful to you
if it would please you to ask my friends
for a feast tonight?
No!
A very small feast?
It's only this once?
No no no no no!
Spend for a feast, make way for a famine
Good morning father Wong!
It's going to rain!
It is unlucky to mention it!
I haven't said it would rain!
I haven't said it!
Here's some
very bad wine for the bridegroom
This gift is much too good for my son
Oh is miserable wine!
Where's the bridegroom?
He's washing his whole body!
Is that my friend Wong Loong?
Shing! That's my son!
Wasting good water
before the rains come!
Uh but the rains will come!
And what's on
the top of the water to you,
a man who lives to see his grandson
Young men and fools are alike,
until the gods teach them wisdom
And asking your
few friends for a feast tonight
A very small feast,
if you'll come my son will be honoured
You were boys together. Shing!
Ha ha ha ha!
This is the day!
Chickens! Good buy! Eat!
Good your blood and pure your liver!
Peaches, 6 for 2 coppers!
Now then what?
I'm Wong Loong, the farmer
Well, and Wong Loong the farmer what?
I'm coming... I'm coming...
Are you seeing that? I see you a fool!
There's a woman to be...
Ha ha ha! So you're he!
You're the bridegroom!
I thought you're the peddler!
Why do you bring a basket?
Are you gonna carry that the whole day?
The bridegroom! He comes!
The bridegroom! He comes!
The bridegroom!
He's here! The bridegroom!
He's here! The bridegroom!
You fool, get up!
Your farmer's come,
he smells like a stable!
Nobody giggles!
Is all wreck crack yours?
Open it! Open it!
To see what's in it
There's a thief in every kitchen
When did you steal these?
My mother gave'em to me
Save it for your own brats!
Pick up your eggs! Hurry!
This dress, the kitchen slave
This woman came into my house
when she was a child
Her parents were farmers
but during the famine
they sold her to me for food.
She has a strong body,
and will work for you
in your house and your fields.
Take her and use her well!
Oh Lang! Over him!
And bring him many sons
Bring the first son for me to see
Well? Go go go go!
Take the box!
Peaches! Fresh peaches!
Good peaches are the friend!
Good your blood and pure your liver!
Peaches! Fresh peaches! Thank you!
Peaches! Fresh peaches!
They're yours!
Eat for yourself
A tree will grow from the seeds
Hey, hey! Let him be!
For very silent says she's a good cook!
An excellent cook!
I am an old man and I have never
tasted such food before!
Oh no it's very poor food!
Very badly prepared,
the woman can't cook at all!
My friends,
my poor farm barely produces enough
to keep my family alive
But tonight,
I rejoyce that my brother's son
has been favoured by him
Are you, you, how beautiful it is,
and how pretty, nephew?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Forgive me!
Poor Zon! He faked and shaved
and hope we will all go home!
No no no no!
Your presence delights him!
Then we'll all stay till cockcrow!
May you have many grandsons!
And she might beg for the first one!
You want my old bones!
Brother, your joy is mine!
Nephew! Now that
the woman will work in the house,
you might help
your old uncle in the fields?
Alas I...
Good night!
Good night!
Good night!
Good night!
Good night!
Night! Night!
It will grow!
This is good land!
An old one,
my ancestors came here long ago!
And they sleep in it!
My father ploughed it,
and it's mine!
The best the man can have!
Now it belongs to us both!
It's raining!
Why did you put up your hand?
Were you afraid?
Afraid of me?
Were they cruel to you
in the Great House?
No one will be cruel to you here!
I am with child
Enough for the day,
We'll tell old father
Why have you left the field?
She is with child already!
Hey hey! She want me to be a grandfather
I shall go prepare food
Yes food food food!
I know nothing of these things,
when the child is born you need a woman.
Perhaps
here's a woman in the Great House
Someone you knew in the kitchen!
Not in that house!
Well, We're all men here!
There must be someone
in the Great House...
I'll never go back, in that house
It will be with my son in the house
I'll have a red coat on it,
and a red flower trousers,
and a hat with a buddha and tiger,
and I'll go back to the kitchen
where I spend my days as a slave
And into the great hall
where all the mistress
sits with their pipe
and I'll show myself
and my son to all of them
Well, well
I haven't heard you speak so many words
since you came into this house!
Now then, why are you
not in the fields today?
The wheat must be cut!
Today I shall not go into the fields
Look! Dark clouds!
Rain? We'll loose the harvest!
We'll starve this winter!
Bring the others!
Hey hurry with the wheat!
There's hail in that storm! Let's go!
Help me load the cart!
What is it? Is it the child?
I get a woman
No! Go back to the wheat!
I play my king correctly!
No you didn't!
You lost every game correctly!
Of course! How did I know what he had?
You might have looked over his shoulders
But I didn't!
You gave me the wrong sign!
Hey! What did I tell you?
And you made me play another game
while this was happenning!
Is it a man? Is it a man?
A man! A man-child has been born!
Behold we have a son!
A man-child! A man-child!
I'm a father!
And you're a grandfather!
Hey Hey!
I never could get my wife
to work the way
that woman did,
with a child about to be born
If it weren't indignified,
I'd tell her that she's a good wife!
Nephew! I rejoyce with you!
It's nothing that I lost my own wheat
helping with the child, nothing!
Hear him! Huh huh!
I'll get eggs, and dye them red
for the whole village
Everyone must know I have a son!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Oh my son is very pleased!
Oh it was a dismal noise!
No no! Very good noise!
Now then!
Those cakes are not to be eaten!
Well! And I am poor
but at least I can be honest!
My dear nephew, please add this fowl
to the little coloured eggs
which you hadn't offered me!
But they are gift for the Great House!
Very bad for the stomach,
only fit for rich people,
if they are not too rich to accept them
Those people
are not as rich as you think!
They are feeling pinch this year
I've heard that they are selling land
Land? Selling land?
I heard it yesterday from their agent,
At the gambling tea house
Well, am I asked to fill my cup
in this house of properity?
Huh... please please!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
What have I not thought of...
A good new year, a triumphant new year!
Good night!
Good bye!
We could buy land, from the Great House!
Rice land!
Now then, if we lost our wheat
we'll have no money
But we haven't!
But how close it was!
Between this money and nothing
Not even food!
When a man has 2 fields, or 3 fields
he can loose his wheat
and still have food
That rice land is sure!
Had to be sure again
I'd even go to the Great House
and buy it!
Do you think They'd kill me?
Well, well! I'm not afraid!
I go to the Great House to say,
to tell'em
I've got an important business
Money is concerned
What is a fair price,
I have it in my hand!
Well it was a good thought
But what use is a good thought then?
If no one agrees with it?
And the child! A beautiful child!
A beautiful boy! Boo boo boo boo!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Here's the son of Wong Loong!
Here's the son of Wong Loong the farmer!
He's a man-child!
He's a man-child!
Miss Oh Lang,
Wife Wong the farmer and her son
you will announce them to ancient one
And you say her child would be a female
ha ha ha ha! A female!
Quiet! I'll cut off your own hands!
Um! He has a sickly look
Very pale and green
Let's hope he won't die before Spring!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Stop that cackles!
Hurry woman! Must I waste the whole day?
Hey hey hey!
He's a beautiful child!
He's a beautiful child!
Hey hey hey!
You won't believe she laughed!
And say he's a beautiful child!
She said those words
"a beautiful child"!
Well she said no more than the truths!
And I saw not
one slave in all that house
with a new coat like mine!
And why should you go about
like a wife of a common fellow?
I can afford a piece of cloth I think!
Now I have 2 fields!
I bought it today from the Great House!
The land?
They said it was less than an inch
And took all that silver
as if it were nothing!
And the foolish clerks
who don't own a foot land
laughed the goose clack at me
'cause I couldn't write my name!
But I'll buy again and again!
Until my land is more than an inch!
Even in a house of a prince!
Look here farmer!
Someday all this will belong to you!
And you'll be a prince too!
And I'll buy more land
and more land and...
What a pity! We're so poor!
We have nothing!
And the child is nothing!
Yes yes! Is less than nothing!
And it's only a female,
and it's covered with small pox as well!
Yes yes! Only a female,
and covered with small pox,
as well!
You mighty gods! You wise gods!
You've been good to me, for many years
you've been good to this humble person;
I had only 1 field, now I have 5!
I had only 1 child, now I have 3!
My eldest son
planted his first rice today!
My youngest son
is big enough to lead the ox!
My third child is only a female,
but I won't reproach you for that!
Excuse me!
Now we haven't forgotten you!
We brought you
fine new rogues of red paper
so you won't forget me!
You send me rich harvest this year also
and you persuade my uncle,
to work a little now and then.
And not ask for money so often
And if he does,
please allow my husband to refuse him!
I'll do that anyway!
Very gracefully!
Wong Loong! Come up!
Wong Loong come up here!
Wong Loong!
Wong Loong will know,
he'll know what it is!
Wong Loong! How would he know?
He is as slow witted as my woman!
Hey hey! Well! And what now?
Look! Look!
An army!
No! Virgins perhaps?
So many?
People from the North! But why?
There must be famine in the North!
They're going south where there's food!
Famine!? Ha ha ha!
What ideas you have!
The woman is right!
I have seen it before!
That's what happens
when a man has only 1 field!
But I have 5!
We must thank the gods
for giving me so much foresight!
What talk is this!?
Forgive him!
My son he's young and stupid
and talks too much!
It was famine that made me a slave!
It dries even if we carry it!
Well if the vines starve,
we'll all starve!
The wheats' gone! And the rice!
The more my fields
I have only this handful of beans!
Mother! Mother!
You know we're not thieves!
But the ox is mine!
We're hungry! Our children are hungry!
You should help us!
If I have money I would help you!
My nephew! You can sell your land!
Sell my land?
Yes!
But then the money is gone,
and the land!
At least we could
live well through the famine!
What good is this land now?
You're young,
you don't know what a famine is like!
My father knew years of famine,
but he kept the land
I must keep it for my sons!
The earth is good,
if we work it would feed us
But how am I to live?
How am I to live?
Work! As I do!
I'll not rob my sons to feed you!
You you! Must we go hungry
while you have land?
This land that you won't sell!
I'm not selling my land
It's my life, it's mine!
I'll never sell it,
I'll dig up the earth
first and feed it to my children
Yes! And you'll bury them in it!
He's my friend, my friend
We're not hungry!
Mercy on me you powerful ones!
I starve and my woman starve,
and there's no one
to give me a handful of rice!
There's one who has plenty,
but he's a rich man!
And rich's hardened the heart,
soften his heart
o powerful ones,
that he may give me a little
out of his abundance!
Would not a man sell his lands
unless he has foods
to give his children?
He has food! And I starve!
He has food! And these good men starve!
Well, what?
You have food! We're starving!
You have food! Food!
I have nothing!
I dig for roots, for my children
You have food hidden! Food and silver!
Food? Find it!
He's got it he's got it!
Wong Loong has food!
I told you, he has food!
But... it's earth!
It takes hunger, and it's warm
Ching! Hunger makes man mad!
Come come! You're little man now!
You won't cry!
Look! Your sister doesn't cry!
Little one she never cries now
What is it? Why?
If you could have a little food
you'd have the strength
to bring the child
I'll find it.
Tomorrow I...
When have you had food?
There's a thing in me that hurts,
and not hunger, that a man has no words
No words, but I know!
Oh Lang, the earth has forgotten us!
The earth... I hate it! I'll sell it!
No! For a constant length! No!
No not the land! Not the land!
We're ready nephew
Are you safe? Yes, safe
Huh! Another mouth to feed.
My poor man!
For the sake of your children,
we'll give you
a better price for your land
than you can get
anywhere else in these times
We'll give you 12 pieces of silver
What? 12 pieces?
For all my land?
Huh! I paid a 100 times that much!
But who was starving then?
Please! Please!
And well you know I must sell
No! Not the land!
We'll not sell the land
We'll keep it, we'll go south
And when we return
we'll still have the land
But I've arranged it!
I brought these men here,
you must sell!
Is it your land?
Did you buy it bit by bit?
The land is our life
and it's better to go south,
or die walking, than to give it to you,
for nothing!
What a pity! What a pity!
How can you walk anywhere?
With the child?
The child is dead! Dead?
But I heard it cry?
The child is dead!
What do you say father?
Shall we ride in this fire wagon?
It ain't safe for your old back
He said it crawls on these iron poles!
Grandpa says it's a god of fire!
These wagons chained together
Do it again find a thing?
We sit in it while it walks off!
With these mats we can build a home
Well then get to work!
Get to work all of you!
You'll look at me and listen!
Take the bowel in your right hand so
and hold it out to everybody that passes
and cry out to them:"
A heart good sir! A heart good lady!
A good deed and you shall prosper!
The small cash, a coin you throw away!
Feed us starving child!"
Have a kind heart!
A good deed that bring you fortune!
The small cash the coin you throw away
give for the child died!
Have a kind heard!
A good deed to bring you fortune!
The small cash feed the starving child!
Feed the good fortune!
Bring you a good heart!
Small cash for starving!
Poor little child!
Feed the good fortune!
Bring you a good heart!
Small cash for starving!
Hey hey! Have a kind heart good sir!
A good...
Well? And today? Nothing!
No work of any kind!
For things a beast should do,
there were a 100 men, fighting!
It would have been better to starve,
in our own land,
than to come to this great city,
where there's no work for a man's hands!
It will come!
Now then must I wait
for my meat any longer?
Meat? Hey hey hey!
It's the only meat
we have since we killed the ox!
You must have begged
from a prince today!
It's mine!
Where did you get meat?
I took it from an old woman!
You stole it? You thief!
Thief! Thief!
Meat is meat
Do we have to steal
or beg for it to live?
A man can't stand it here!
Our land is all in the north!
In times like this,
my parents found a way to go back;
they sold me
to the old mistress in the big house
You could sell little one?
I would sell her,
to take you back to the land
If it wasn't for me,
you would die before you'll sell her!
We won't sell her, not if I spend
my life in this wilderness
What is it? What happened?
He was pulling timber, he fell and died!
Where did he work? Where did he work?
At the great market!
Where are these soldiers going?
They say there's a revolution coming!
Revolution? What is a revolution?
I don't know,
but it has something to do with food!
Things are growing again
You were a farmer?
I own land in the north!
So did I! 10 years ago!
Why don't you go back?
You gotta have an ox!
You gotta buy seeds!
You gotta live, till you make the crop
I tried saving up for 10 years,
I'll never get back,
and neither will you!
I'll get back!
If I can pull that thing
I can pull a plough;
ox or no ox!
Listen my brothers!
Before the peasants close my mouth!
In a few days
China will be a free country;
the day of tyranny is over!
The revolutionary army is on its way;
they've been marching 30 miles a day!
Fighting in the rain in the north
Hey!
You hear him?
Yes!
But what does it all mean?
It's raining in the north!
Everyday in the south
as come to revolution!
All of China will soon be free!
Don't let them drag you from your homes;
that famine has driven you off course!
Soldiers! Soldiers!
Run! Soldiers!
What is it? What is it?
Why you shouting?
It's free! The revolution's here!
China's a republic!
Republic? What is a "republic"?
Hey what do they want?
Where are they going?
Into the great house of Lang!
It's all over the city,
a man can do what he like!
Aim! Fire!
No! No! I was hungry! Mercy!
No! I was hungry! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!
Aim! Fire!
Captain! Prepare to march!
Follow in!
Let them be a warning to you!
Free publicans are not bandits!
Order must be maintained
throughout the city!
You may go, but remember
anyone caught looting wiil be shot!
What haven't I seen?
What have I not seen!
I could never tell you!
Such things! Crowds! Oh I got through!
The city is mad!
They're robbing the rich!
Killing'em and burning'em!
The soldiers have
come down from the north!
Huh! It's well you were here,
it's well you were here!
Look! We can go back,
we can go back to the land!
Home, home! We are home! Home! Home!
Come! Hey! Down with you!
Run to uncles home,
tell'em Wong is home!
Tell all our friends,
tell'em I have great hungs!
Away with you! Ha ha ha ha!
This is yours! Thank you!
Take what you need!
Please! Take it all! The sack! AII!
Thank you!
AII! There's food for all
until the harvest!
We'll have more crops!
Thank you! Bye!
If you need more, come back!
We have plenty!
Ching
Wong Loong!
I see no face
in the city like yours, my friend!
These belong to you;
I kept'em in our house
Kept them? But it was starving!
Why don't you sell them?
I have no ploughs to...
But keep it!
Tomorrow I'll bring my ox and'em,
to help plough your field!
I have no field, I had to sell it!
Sell them?
Well you can come and work for me!
I've had luck in itself,
I have the mind to buy more land!
Will you come?
I'll come gladly
Nephew! Brother! My loved ones!
I predicted it! I predicted it!
I always said
if those southeners had anything,
my nephew would bring it home with him
But it's too late to help me,
I've had to sell my daughters
Well uncle,
anything you want and I have...
Nothing, nothing,
still if you could let me have a few
pieces of silver, 2 or 3, or 4?
4? Why? Take 10!
15! 20!
Why not?
I have this and more! I have jewels!
Jewels!
A handful! All colours!
Red ones white ones, come!
I want to feel my toes
in the earth again!
But there's something...
Well? Are you going to sell the jewels?
To buy the land?
Sell them? Why of course!
And what else would I do with them?
If I could have 2, only 2 small ones,
2 white ones...
The pearls? You?
No I wouldn't wear them,
I'm much too plain-Iooking
Oh I've never noticed it
But I could hold them
in my hands, sometimes
Thank you!
It's nothing! Nothing!
After all you, helped to find them
And you must wear them, yes
and you must be dressed
in ways becoming to them,
not as a poor farmer's wife!
We'll see to that!
We'll look after you!
We'll come and live with you!
We'll rebuild the house!
No this house is enough!
But no we must make it bigger!
We must have rooms for a household!
No no we were happy here!
We'll be happier!
We'll have men in the fields,
slave in the house
No slaves! Nothing!
But you must have a slave
until you're well again
I'm well now, see!
It's cured me; coming home
But you shall rest and have everything!
We'll live well and in comfort,
We'll be safe from hunger
as long as we live
Longer! Longer!
My nephew you're rich!
You can live like a great lord!
Why you can even pick a second wife!
Listen to him! Listen to him!
But why not? You have 2 oxens?
No! No but come along!
Second wife.
It is further agreed
that the above named seller,
Wong Lung, shall deliver
to the respected merchant,
Liu Fong Kee, the set wheat
as and when same harvested
Cost of transportation
to be born by the seller
It is agreed between
the above mentioned parties,
that the price
of this wheat is to be as follows:
"For each bushel of wheat,
4 pieces of silver
In the event of damage to the crop,
from storm, pest or other cause,
the worthy purchaser, Liu Fong Kee,
shall be held free
of any liabilities to accept this wheat"
Read that last paragraph
Um Mr Wong, I'm delighted to pay you
such a high price for your wheat,
even though my profit might be slight
Very kind of you to buy my rigid grain
The contract's ready father
Well it is time
But this contract is wrong!
This is the radical for wood,
it should be the radical for water
Change it then
We'll not put our names
to anything wrongly written!
Um Mr Wong, 2 clever sons like these,
are the better half of your wealth!
They're stupid worthless preachers,
If anything was driven
to their big bright skulls
it was by beating them!
Hee hee hee!
I told that teacher to beat them!
He beat them so well,
that this one's going to the universit
Indeed! If I'm not too unworthy
I hope to win a degree in agriculture!
A degree!? Agriculture!?
That's somekind of paper
that will make it rain just enough
But not too much! Hey hey hey!
And you? You going too?
No sir! I'll stay on my father's land,
when my brother returns
he'll show me
what more can be done with it
than we have done!
Now then that's talk enough,
take the money home
My ignorant daughter!
A beautiful girl!
Oh she has a wretched appearance!
Now you 2
might mix your blood in one bowl!
Oh but your daughter
is much too good for my son
Oh no! But you would never
come decend to such a marriage!
Oh but I couldn't presume
to look so high!
It's impossible! Quite impossible!
But, it might done
Yes indeed,
if you'll be good enough to consider it
in due time
I should think of it
night and day, good bye!
It would be modest of me to say
that this idea was mine, Good bye!
Ah! What a beautiful day!
That music! It seems to draw me
inspite of myself!
I'm not used to these places
Eh? I have no clothes!
I'm only a farmer!
I have work to do...
Work? Work!
You must learn to enjoy yourself!
There's more in the world
than earth and crops,
there're songs and dancing!
And girls who do these things elegantly!
Watch!
That must be the stairway!
Yes, shall we see what it feels like?
No no no!
No! I've never been off
the ground all my life!
She's like a dream person!
Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!
Quiet!
I told the thing
not to wake me till this time
Another feast?
The dragon feast, woman!
It's my duty to observe the old customs
My nephew insisted on it
Old customs indeed!
There's more than that with your nephew!
When the farmer buys silk, robes
and washes his whole body everyday,
there's a woman that should work!
But the rich man may have 2 wives!
But the wife must cling to her husband,
that is as it should be
That's right!
A woman of love and one is mistake!
Of course! Now then, it is said
you may see a tea pot with 4 tea cups,
but did you ever
see a tea cup with 4 tea pots!?
It is also said,
do you ever see 2 spoons
in the same bowl
that do not nod against each other!?
Well What is it? What is it?
Excuse me father, but you look like
the lord of the Great House.
Well! And that is not
as strange as you think!
I just... tell your mother
I wish to see her
Yes father, can you spare me a moment?
I must know what seed
to prepare for the Summer planting
Why trouble me about it?
Prepare the seed my son gives you!
These flowers are dead, Little One!
Your sister knows only happiness
Mother!
Is it a letter from your brother?
No mother! Father wishes to see you.
Oh! Forgot how chilly it was!
Are you well? Your pain, is it bad?
No it's nothing!
You sent for me?
Well, there's a thing I've done,
I bought the Great House!
The house of Loo!
Courts and land!
I'm the new lord there
Well? Have you no thanks?
I thought it would please you
to be mistress in that house,
where you lived as a slave
Our sons were born here...
They must have wives!
We'll have grandchildren,
there's room in that house to all!
You'll have a high place
with money to spend for slaves.
You must make yourself becoming to it!
Look at your hair! Your clothes!
You disgrace me!
One would think you're still the wife
of a common labourer!
Wear the pearl you have
The pearls? I have them!
You would never wear them
Why I look at them sometimes
I need them, give them to me
I know that I'm ugly,
and not to be loved
All that we have now came from you
That is the truth and I say it
But, but now...
But now?
There's a woman, not such a one as you;
not as good as you,
it's like a sickness!
When I'm with her, it's not enough!
When I'm not with her, there's nothing!
Even the land is nothing!
Then it will be better
when she's in your house
You'll say that?
Is it your wish?
Yes
Let it be then!
Ou lang, what is there more to say?
Nothing
Who is it?
Nothing
Who is that man going out the gate?
He look something like my son, Lung!
Now then what?
I'm Ching the farmer
Well Ching the farmer what?
I have business with Wong the farmer
Wong the farmer?
This is the great house of Wong!
He's the lord here!
There's a bad woman in the house!
There's a bad woman in the house!
Bad woman!
Father hush!
It's his second wife
I say it's a bad woman!
I had but 1 woman...
and my father had but 1 woman,
and we farm the land!
Come father,
it's he and his second wife!
I'm tired, I want my tea
The old man is childish,
nobody listens to him,
but he shall be kept away!
I'm hated in this house,
how can I be happy here?
But, what can I do?
I have to sit here, shut in all day,
if I stood out there they whisper
and look at me hatefully!
Where can I walk in the evening?
If I had the garden,
if I had the garden all mine;
with singing birds in the pavillion,
the fountain with fish.
But the money...
Then it's money that you love
No no! Little Flower!
But it will not be
easy until the harvest
I must see, I must see,
my younger son keeps the accounts
But these're few little things
If you love me, if I please you
It shall be done! Anything! Anything!
Becareful! My pearls!
I may come in?
Does my music disturb you?
Oh no! No I like it!
I listen sometimes
I play it because I'm Ionely
I have so much to talk and laugh,
but there's no one
I'm sorry, I'm very sorry!
You must excuse me I have some business
with the grain merchants
If you'll please I must go!
Then you'll pass by the shops
Yes?
Would you mind
giving him these for a bottle?
With silver?
Why um yes! Yes!
But you won't misunderstand
Why should I?
When a woman gives her slipper to a man?
But I shouldn't tell you
Oh no please!
Well then it means he's taking her fancy
But you ask me to have it guilded?
But the bottle doesn't need guilding,
it's pure silver!
Here's a letter from your brother,
will you read it to me
Of course mother!
Now then, we'll hear
what our scholar has to say
"First, I am ashamed of my ignorance.
But I am not ashamed
to inquire of my teachers.
Each day I learn
new ways of bring about nature's
facts in case
nature herself should fail us."
What does he say?
He says
he's learning many things to help us.
But is he happy there?
Does he say he need anything?
No mother
"I miss my beloved
father and mother deeply.
And I'm eager to share
the happiness of our new home."
Mother, I want to go away too!
Go away?
To the wars! I'll be a soldier!
Now then what madness is this?
Well I've heard stories
of war and plunder and battle,
and I hate this house!
And I'll go!
I wish she'll stop that music!
Now this house is full of silences
I was reading mother
a letter from the older brother
Would you like to hear it?
If he's well it can wait!
But there's more
in your face than the letter!
He'll be a soldier
A soldier! Now then,
men don't take good iron to make an ail,
nor a good man to make a soldier
It would be a disgrace
to me a man of serving land
to have a son who's a soldier!
But I'm nothing in this house!
If you're lost in this house
go back to the land!
Help Ching until the harvest
Put an alert on yourself!
That's good for any man!
Well if the land
isn't fit for you anymore
it isn't fit for me!
Now all these stuff I don't know
He's come to the age of tempers
and weeping
When I was a lad I had no such tempers!
You worked on the land;
but he's like a young lord!
And he's been alone here
And you worry his age to have a bride
But I was given a sla...
My marriage cost my father nothing!
The boy's our son!
He would be better dead
than here with this woman!
What? You're dreaming!
Even she hears it who has nothing else;
it feels all this house
the woman of cause
she's bored and your son is young...
Enough!
Gossip! Kitchen gossip!
That's where you came from!
Where you wished to live,
live there then!
Eat 'n sleep we will,
but between you and me
there's nothing! Nothing!
The man is loon here
What are you doing in the house?
There's work to be done in the fields
But, what is it?
You're weeping, and you must do it
and man can be sorry
But why do you weep?
There's food for everyday
And fire!
Sometimes a man gets
a longing for his fields
Well, if it pleases you to come up again
and working them, they're yours!
No it's better for my son to come;
in the house he pulls against the yolk
He has all the freedom here he wants!
Where is he today?
He comes and goes!
Sometimes 1 day, sometimes 2
I thought you knew
I knew nothing!
I spend my time in town!
Why don't you tell me
you slow witted ox!
Why should I tell you
what everyone's been saying?
For weeks!
What?
Well...
Well speak!
If you have eyes and ears you'll know
Know? Know what?
That the second wife and your son is...
Liar!
Get off my land.
Well, it's been a long time with us
Take what belongs to you and go
I came to you with nothing,
I'll go with nothing
Good day master! Good day!
Ah! Father!
Get out! Out of my sight!
Good bye mother
Mother! Mother you're ill,
you should have a doctor
It's nothing
Where you go you ought to tell me
They say there's a war in the north
Sometimes in wars
there are those who die
Well if that's best, let it be!
When I'm gone,
you must see to the harvest
we almost did it already,
the clerk will tell you how much
I will see to it
If you must go,
there's a thing to be done
Speak to your father
No no I can't!
You're his youngest son
Father father!
I am going away
I...I only want to tell you that I...
how I... if you could forgive me
But go!
Nephew! We're ruined! Everything's gone!
And I predicted it! I predicted it!
What's happened?
I knew it, I ran miles to tell you
What is it?
I forgive everybody
What is it?
This!
Locusts!
The flying plague!
Well! Let them come!
But the lion, the harvest!
What can we do against the gods?
It's not the gods!
It's a thing of nature! We can fight it!
Have you ever seen a plague of locusts?
No but...
I have! They came in millions
The air is black with them and stinky
And where they come down
there's nothing left!
Not a green of wheat!
Not a blade of grass!
Not a leave nor flower! Nothing!
And can you fight that with your book?
Forgive me!
I mean no disrespect for my elders,
but I speak for what I heard at school!
And I heard this:
"That a man is a slave to the earth,
or its master
and when it turns against him,
he must fight it!"
We can fight these creeping things!
If we save but 1 field,
it would a new thing in all this land,
and the best in a thousand years!
This thing can be done?
Show us how to do it!
If it'd please you,
come on to the fields!
Now look!
The locusts will come down here,
the wind blows between these hills
There! Like a whirlpool,
if it blows the locusts
they'll come down there
and no other place!
I saw it! As a boy!
They came down there!
And they were gone,
with a change of wind
But the crops, were gone with them!
But that's the thing!
We can hold them off
till the wind changes!
We must take a fire break
along these hill tops
Make a wall of fire!
But my wheat
lights on fire in a fire wall!
And mine! And mine! And mine!
I'll pay for
what is eaten and what is burnt!
We'll get kerosene,
bring it in carts!
The fire stuff,
it makes a quick, high flame
We can fight everything
behind this wall!
If they break through,
we'll wind the ditch behind the fire;
a wall of water!
It will fail!
If it fails,
we'll fight them with torches!
With noise! With our hands!
If we can hold them off until
the wind picks them up again,
we can save at least those fields!
It can't be done!
It must be done!
All you have
and all I have depends on it!
You think I'm rich?
But if I lose
this harvest there's nothing!
If I save anything I'll share it!
Yeah yeah yeah!
Let the men dig and women,
let the old men and boys make torches,
gather all things that'll make a noise!
Bring the fire stuff!
Get the oxens and ploughs,
sickels, spades!
Everyone! Hey hey! Useless! Useless!
I'll stay where it's safe!
Faster! Faster! Make that thing wider!
Up here! Hurry! Hurry!
Bring the fire stuff!
Come on men, hurry!
Torches.
Millions! Millions!
My god!
See! They land in one place!
Yes, they fall!
Hey! Hurry with the fire stuff!
Load the fire stuff from here!
Get them! Get the torches!
Get the torches!
Light the fires!
All fire stop!
They are smothering the plains!
It's breaking through,
just as I predicted it!
Just as I predicted it!
Bring the water! Fill the ditches!
Fill the ditches!
They'll be eaten,
there's no doubt about it now!
No doubt about it!
That ditch will never hold them!
We must fight them with our hands!
Ourselves! Anything! Move!
Chen! Keep fighting! Don't give up!
We must keep fighting!
Everyone! We can!
There's the wheat! Save it!
The wind! The wind! The wind! The wind!
We beat them!
We beat them! We beat them!
Yeah yeah yeah! We beat them!
The farm! Victory!
Victory! We've done it!
The young master,
it's wonderful! He did it!
The son and his father,
the son to be proud of!
The father to be proud of!
The wise man in 3 generations!
But it's nothing!
Just a matter of oil and fire,
something we learn from books!
But I'm worn out! Worn out!
But we saved the crops!
The harvest is saved!
The gods are good!
What's the matter?
I'll call your husband
No no! Say nothing
He's on the land again,
with his sons, and this day's his,
and it must be!
You shall bring in the harvest,
and lead the workers!
Both of you!
And Ching is my steward!
Well! There's work to be done!
Yeah yeah yeah!
The harvest! Food! Food again!
And another thing must be done,
and you must do it,
quickly!
I? Work?
Go to the banker,
as a commisioner to be had,
and if you rob me a little,
it will be yours! For old time's sake!
I will sell the Great House!
Sell? But why?
The harvest is saved, you'll have money!
You can live like a lord!
All that is finished!
I'll sell the Great House!
It's a wedding again!
But who?
It's your grandson's wedding!
And soon there'll be great grandsons!
Many of them! Many of them!
Please! Please!
Let him be! Let him be!
His cheek is as red
as this excellent wine!
Excellent indeed!
My stomach is very pleased!
Perhaps it's the lost of memory,
but I've never eaten such rice!
It's very bad rice.
The worst I've ever bought!
Grandchildren! Great grandchildren!
Have all the guests had rice?
Yes yes!
Is the sweet rice is hot,
with lard and sugar?
And the 8 fruits?
It's just as you wished
Mistrss! Your son's bride!
Well, and she's beautiful!
My daughter, look to your husband
and your husband's father,
and his granfather,
and you'll have no duty to any of them.
You must rest!
Everyone be here
not smiling because of me
Let them be, for the bride!
In good time! In good time!
For you'll be well again
Well, this thing is waiting
You can't speak of that,
and please me
I'm content,
and what must be done, you've done!
Bridegroom hasn't heard a word!
He's wishing we go home!
No no indeed I should be honoured
if you stay the whole even
Oh!
Do you remember?
Yes!
If a man could speak, there're things...
Some are forgotten
But now I know that you're the one;
that the best a man can have
Ou Lang! Ou Lang!
This I cannot bear
I'd sell all my land
if I could heal you!
No! I would not let you!
For I must die, sometime
But the land will be there, after me
I beg you! Stay here with me!
I can not!
Forgive me!
Ou Lang, you are the earth!