Curse of the Golden Flower (Simplified Chinese: 满城尽带黄金甲; Traditional Chinese: 滿城盡帶黃金甲; Pinyin: Mǎnchéng Jìndài Huángjīnjiǎ), also known literally as When Golden Armor Covers the Entire City, is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 Chinese historical drama film directed by Zhang Yimou. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (500x741, 84 KB) Movie poster for the 2006 film Curse of the Golden Flower. ... Zhang Yimou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ;  ) (born November 14, 1951) is an internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker and one-time cinematographer. ... Cao Yu (Chinese: 曹禺, pinyin: Cáo YÇ”, Wade-Giles: Tsao Yü) was the literary name of Wan Jiabao (萬家寶 / 万家宝; Wade-Giles: Wan Chia-pao) (Tianjin, China; September 24, 1910 - Beijing; December 13, 1996). ... Zhang Yimou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ;  ) (born November 14, 1951) is an internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker and one-time cinematographer. ... Chow Yun-Fat (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) (born May 18, 1955) is a Hong Kong actor. ... This is a Chinese name; the family name is Gong Gong Li (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (born December 31, 1965) is a Chinese film actress. ... Jay Chou (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōu Jiélún; Wade-Giles: Chou Chieh-lun; Pe̍h-ōe-jÄ«: Chiu Kia̍t-lûn), born 18 January 1979, is a World Music Award-winning, arguably one of the most successful and influential Taiwanese musician, singer, and producer. ... Shigeru Umebayashi (born February 19, 1951 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka) is a Japanese composer. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Hong_Kong. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Peoples_Republic_of_China. ... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... April 13 is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Mandarin (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally speech of officials), or Beifanghua (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Northern Dialect(s)), is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Traditional Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 正體字/繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 正体字/繁体字) refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Traditional Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 正體字/繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 正体字/繁体字) refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Zhang Yimou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ;  ) (born November 14, 1951) is an internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker and one-time cinematographer. ...

With a budget of $45 million, it is the most expensive Chinese film to date, surpassing Chen Kaige's The Promise.^[1] It was chosen as China's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for the year 2006^[2]; it was not nominated in that category though it did receive a Costume Design nomination. The history of Chinese-language cinema has three separate threads of development: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. ... Chen Kaige (Simplified Chinese: 陈凯歌; Traditional Chinese: 陳凱歌; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chen Kai-ko) (born August 12, 1952) is a famous Chinese film director. ... The Promise (Chinese: 无极/無極) is an epic fantasy movie directed by Chen Kaige and starring Hiroyuki Sanada, Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse. ... The Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Foreign Language Film is a yearly US award for the best film in a language other than English, released in the period October - September in the country of origin. ... This Academy Award was first given for movies made in 1948 when separate awards were given for black-and-white and color movies. ...

Cast

Hong Kong filmstar Chow Yun-Fat plays Emperor Ping, while mainland Chinese actress Gong Li, who has starred in many of Zhang Yimou's films in the past, plays Empress Phoenix. Liu Ye plays Crown Prince Wan, Taiwanese singer Jay Chou stars as Prince Jai, and Qin Junjie is Prince Yu, the youngest prince. The Imperial Doctor is played by Ni Dahong, his wife by Chen Jin, and their daughter, Jiang Chan, by Li Man. Chow Yun-Fat (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) (born May 18, 1955) is a Hong Kong actor. ... This is a Chinese name; the family name is Gong Gong Li (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (born December 31, 1965) is a Chinese film actress. ... Zhang Yimou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ;  ) (born November 14, 1951) is an internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker and one-time cinematographer. ... Liu Ye (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ) (born March 23, 1978) is a Chinese actor from Jilin province. ... Jay Chou (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōu Jiélún; Wade-Giles: Chou Chieh-lun; Pe̍h-ōe-jÄ«: Chiu Kia̍t-lûn), born 18 January 1979, is a World Music Award-winning, arguably one of the most successful and influential Taiwanese musician, singer, and producer. ... Li Man Li Man (born 1989) is a chinese actress. ...

Name

The title of the movie is taken from the last line of a Tang dynasty poem attributed to the rebel leader Huang Chao, "On the Chrysanthemum, after failing the Imperial Examination" (不第後賦菊/不第后赋菊) or simply "Chrysanthemum": China under the Tang Dynasty (yellow) and its sphere of influence Capital Changan (618–904) Luoyang (904-907) Language(s) Middle Chinese Religion Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism Government Monarchy Emperor  - 618-626 Emperor Gaozu  - 684, 705-710 Emperor Zhongzong  - 684, 710-712 Emperor Ruizong  - 904-907 Emperor Ai History  - Li... Huang Chao(Chinese:黃巢)(d. ...

Due to the film's high profile while it was still in production, its title, which can be literally translated as "The Whole City is Clothed in Golden Armor", became a colorful metaphor for the spring 2006 sandstorms in Beijing and the term "golden armor" (黄金甲, huángjīnjiǎ) has since become a metaphor for sandstorms among the locals.^[3] The Double Ninth Festival (Chinese: ; pinyin: ChóngjiÇ”, also Traditional Chinese: 重陽節; pinyin: Chóngyángjié or Chung Yeung Festival in Hong Kong) dated on the ninth day of the ninth month in Chinese calendar, is a traditional Chinese holiday, mentioned in writing since before the East Han period. ... Changan â–¶(?) (Simplified Chinese: 长安; Traditional Chinese: 長安; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chang-an) is the ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in China. ... Look up sandstorm in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Beijing (Chinese: 北京; pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ;  ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...

Plot

The plot is based on Cao Yu's 1934 drama Thunderstorm (pinyin: Lei Yu), but is set in the imperial court of the Later Shu, which was during the turbulent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. Emperor Ping is a man of humble origins and strong ambition, having risen to the throne from the lowly rank of captain. He abandoned his first wife to marry the Princess of Liang, who is now his Empress Phoenix. The Emperor does not love his second wife or her often sour mood; he blames the latter on an illness, for which he has forced her to take medicine of his own concoction every two hours for the past ten years. Empress Phoenix has been outwardly obedient throughout the marriage and her husband's treatment, but has grown suspicious of the medicine in the recent span of ten days. Her submissiveness also conceals the fact that she and Crown Prince Wan, the Emperor's son from his previous wife, have engaged in an illicit affair for three years. The status quo is broken, however, when Wan reveals to the Empress his guilt about the affair and then ends it against her wishes. Part of his motivation is a second secret relationship, held with Jiang Chan the daughter of the Imperial Doctor. Wan's overriding desire is to escape the palace, which he has never left, and thereby see the outside world with Chan. Cao Yu (Chinese: 曹禺, pinyin: Cáo YÇ”, Wade-Giles: Tsao Yü) was the literary name of Wan Jiabao (萬家寶 / 万家宝; Wade-Giles: Wan Chia-pao) (Tianjin, China; September 24, 1910 - Beijing; December 13, 1996). ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Later Shu (Hou Shu, 後蜀) was one of the Ten Kingdoms located in Sichuan basin which was in existance between the years of 934 and 965. ... Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (Traditional Chinese: 五代十國 Simplified Chinese: 五代十国 Hanyu pinyin: WÇ”dàishíguó) (907-960) was a period of political upheaval in China, between the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. ...

Prince Jai, the middle son and eldest son of the Empress, has been leading the Emperor Ping's army at the kingdom's borders for three years. The palace has prepared a massive welcoming ceremony for the returning prince on the eve of the Chrysanthemum Festival, but the Emperor cancels them at the last moment to meet his son at a nearby inn where Jai has been instructed to wait. There, the Emperor duels his son as an act of dominance, after which he warns Jai never to repeat a previous, unspecified mistake, emphasizing that everything Jai receives comes by the will of the Emperor and attempting to take anything from the Emperor by force is doomed to failure. Jai then returns to the palace and visits with his mother, who is feverishly embroidering chrysanthemums for the upcoming festival. While she is embroidering she is struck still for a moment, possibly in pain, and collapses. She recovers quickly but Jai begins to worry about her. The Double Ninth Festival (Chinese: ; pinyin: Chóngjiǔ, also Traditional Chinese: 重陽節; pinyin: Chóngyángjié or Chung Yeung Festival in Hong Kong) dated on the ninth day of the ninth month in Chinese calendar, is a traditional Chinese holiday, mentioned in writing since before the East Han period. ...

Meanwhile, the Emperor meets with the Imperial Doctor, who confirms that he (the Doctor) has been serving the Empress a special poison along with her medicine for the last ten days. The poisoning is apparently a scheme of the Emperor, intended for unspecified reasons to cause the Empress to lose her mind within two months. Not coincidentally, the Empress is increasingly more suspicious of the medicine due to the change in its taste and the recent onset of pain. Because of this, she chooses to leave the last swallow of her next dose. At a family gathering later that day, the Emperor indicates that he knows of her disobedience, and then insists that she finish the remaining medicine. The Empress refuses until the Emperor coerces his sons into begging her to comply.

Later on, a woman in assassin's garb informs the Empress that the medicine does in fact contain poison, as she had come to suspect. The woman refuses payment, saying she has her own reasons to hate the Emperor. Then she begins to leave, but becomes distracted by Wan, who has her seized and brought to the Emperor. The Emperor recognizes her as his first wife, the mother of Wan, who without his knowledge had escaped imprisonment and execution twenty-five years earlier. She is now the wife of the Imperial Doctor and the mother of Chan, who does not know of her mother's past. The Emperor promises to repay her for the wrongs he has done to her and promotes her husband (the Doctor) to governor of another city.

After the Doctor leaves with his family the Empress and Jai meet and she tells him she is being poisoned and asks for his help against his father. He first refuses, then submits when he watches his mother willingly drink the poisoned medicine. Later the Empress summons Wan to her chambers and shows him a robe she has made for him to wear at the festival, emphasizing the special chrysanthemum she has embroidered on it. Wan becomes suspicious and refuses to wear the robe, they scuffle over it until they end up on the floor together in an almost intimate moment. Seconds later Wan snaps out of it and rushes from the room, riding from the palace to the inn where the Doctor and his family are staying. When he is at the inn with Chan, Wan discovers that the Empress has had her eunuch embroider and deliver ten thousand chrysanthemum scarves to General Wu of their own army. Wan immediately gets suspicious and rushes to return to the palace, causing himself to be discovered by Chan's mother, who demands vehemently and without explanation that Wan leave immediately, which he does without a word. The Doctor then sits down for a heart-to-heart talk with his wife and Chan takes the opportunity to pursue Prince Wan, whom she believes is riding into great danger.

Wan returns to the palace and confronts the Empress. She is hurt and jealous of his relationship with Chan, plus his refusal to wear the robe she made for him, so when he becomes angry and says that her plot would cause him to be killed, she agrees, telling him she wants him to die. At that Wan grabs a knife and stabs himself, but not fatally. Later, when he is recovering, the Emperor visits him and tells him he has known for years about the relationship between Wan and the Empress. The Emperor then tells Wan he does not blame him for the betrayal, whereupon Wan divulges the Empress' plot.

Meanwhile, before the heart-to-heart talk can begin between the Doctor and his wife, the Emperor's black-clad assassins descend on the inn, armed with sickle-like swords and long ropes attached to grapples to slaughter all the occupants. They kill the Doctor, but red-clad soldiers loyal to the Empress hold them off and allow his wife to escape. She flees to the palace, where the Chrysanthemum Festival is about to begin, and in turn is revealed by the Empress to the royal family and Chan as the Emperor's first wife, Wan's mother. Chan is driven mad by the realisation that her lover Wan is in fact her half-brother, and thus flees screaming into the courtyard with her mother in pursuit. The Emperor's assassins reappear and kill Chan and her mother, but at the same time are slain by the mother in mad grief. Then a large army of gold-armored soldiers swarms through the front gates, killing imperial bodyguards and courtiers as they approach; their scarves are soon shown to bear chrysanthemum emblems. With Jai emerging in his own golden armor to take point, the army advances toward the courtyard.

In the palace, all are surprised when Yu, the youngest prince, stabs Wan in the back. Yu screams that he has witnessed and is disgusted by the plottings of his family, and has concluded that he must take the throne. Backed by several soldiers, he orders his father to abdicate. However, the Emperor's assassins descend from the rafters to kill the soldiers, after which the Emperor uses his heavy golden belt to pulverize, and kill Yu.

Outside, Jai leads the golden soldiers into the courtyard, cutting down the imperial flag (put up by the Emperor to serve as a warning to his son not to forcifully take what he wants, as warned in the inn from before) as a symbol to go forward. As the golden soldiers trample the chrysanthemum pots in the courtyard, an even larger army clad in silver shows up and fortifies the palace with spears, bows, and a massive mobile wall. They slaughter all 10,000 golden soldiers, but are ordered to spare Jai. He fights a determined, solitary battle against the entire army for some time before the teary-eyed Empress nods to him and he submits. Afterwards, a horde of servants clears away the bodies and restores the decorations, including the thousands of pots of chrysanthemums, with mechanical precision. The festival begins as if nothing had happened.

The Empress and a blood-soaked Jai are brought to the festival table where the Emperor sits. The Emperor reveals that he knew of the plot against him, since Wan had informed him of it; assuming that the coup was a bid for the throne, the Emperor reminds Jai of his previous warning to not take what has not been given to him. With that in mind, he also reveals an earlier decision to replace Wan with Jai as Crown Prince, thereby emphasizing the superfluous nature of Jai's act. Jai admits that he knew that his fight was futile, but corrects the Emperor's assumption by stating that he did it all for his mother, not the throne. In response, the Emperor says that he will spare Jai the penalty for princely rebellion of being ripped apart by five horses if he will personally serve his mother her poisoned medicine from now on. Jai kneels before his mother and apologizes, then kills himself with a sword. Blood splatters the contents of the table as the Emperor bends to take a morsel of food. He pauses without expression. The Empress, truly driven mad now, screams as she flings the medicine into the center of the table. The poisonous contents of the cup turns the giant golden chrysanthemum on the table black as the movie ends.

Historical perspective

The primary source for the screenplay (co-written by Director Zhang, Wu Nan, and Bian Zhihong) is a Chinese play set in the 1930s with its story re-worked (by Zhang) to transport it more than a millennium back in time. [4]

Aside from the fictional plot, the sets used contain a number of inconsistencies with established Chinese history. These include:

• The use of nail extensions by the Empress was not popular during the Tang Dynasty, but only after the Ming Dynasty several centuries later.^[1]
• Plate armor, worn by Prince Jai and Emperor Ping in the movie, was unpopular throughout Chinese history, as it restricted movement, and was thus unlikely to have been used. Scale and lamellar were preferred over plate for this reason. [5]
• The dresses the Empress and her servants wore were given an unrealistic cleavage. In fact, camisoles were part of the wardrobe of upper class women in China in times gone by.

For other uses, see Ming. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Dacian scale armour on Trajans column. ... Japanese Samurai Odoshi Armor. ... Aria Giovanni displaying cleavage Cleavage is the cleft created by the partial exposure of a womans breasts, especially when exposed by low-cut clothing. ... A camisole or cami is a womans undergarment which covers the top part of the body. ...

Reception

The US release garnered a generally positive, but tepid reception: its holds an average rating of 65/100 by film critics on the ranking site Rotten Tomatoes[6] and a rating of 70/100 by film critics on Metacritic [7]. Of the positive reviews, most critics praised the "spectacularly decorated" dramatic aspects of the film, while others suggest that Curse of the Golden Flower was a poor reflection of director Zhang Yimou's acclaimed works in the past[8]. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Metacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and books. ... Zhang Yimou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ;  ) (born November 14, 1951) is an internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker and one-time cinematographer. ...

Soundtrack

Besides starring in the film, Jay Chou has also recorded a song to accompany the film, titled "Chrysanthemum Terrace" (Chinese: 菊花台; Pinyin: Júhuā tái), released on his 2006 album Still Fantasy. Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Still Fantasy (Chinese: ; pinyin: YÄ«rán FàntèxÄ«) is the 7th album by the Taiwanese R&B and Rap artist (and composer) mega star, Jay Chou, and is slated to be released on September 5, 2005, on par with Jays norm of releasing one major album per...

DVD Release

It was released on Region 3 DVD on February 13, 2007 and Region 1 DVD and Blu-Ray DVD on March 27. 2007. An early review on dvdspindoctor.com indicates that the Blu-Ray disc is "near-reference quality" -- appropriate since the production was the most expensive in Chinese theatrical history.[9] DVD Regions Each DVD-Video disc contains one or more region codes, denoting the area(s) of the world in which distribution and playback are intended. ... The following is an excerpt of the article entitled DVD. For the sake of convenience, the terms Region 0, Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4, Region 5, Region 6, Region 7 and Region 8 redirect to this page. ...

Notes

The Straits Times is an English-language broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore, currently owned by the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). ...

External links

• Curse of the Golden Flower at the Internet Movie Database
• Curse of the Golden Flower at MonkeyPeaches
• Official Website
• Official Chinese Website (Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia)
• Curse of the Golden Flower Reviews at Metacritic
• Curse of the Golden Flower at Rotten Tomatoes
• Soundtrack Review at Tracksounds