Empire of the Sun in Shanghai 37 years ago, do the locations still exist ?
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- Join me as I search Shanghai in 2024 for all of the filming locations for Steven Spielberg's 1987 Empire of the Sun. The JG Ballard semi-autobiographical tale of a young English boy struggling to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
The movie stars a young Christian Bale (13), and was the first western movie to be filmed in China since the revolution. It took Steven Spielberg a whole year to obtain approval for the 3 weeks of filming in China, the other locations were in Spain and the U.K.
Surprisingly almost all of the locations still exist, as you will see in the video, one or two background buildings have changed, particularly in the rooftop "ambush" scene, however the used rooftop is still there, and I was incredibly lucky to gain access for those shots. I also learned that the front door of the peace hotel is an entirely different building, but only one block away, my guess is that is either a restriction on using the real hotel entrance or Spielberg wanted a crossroads in front of the door (which doesn't exist at the real location) for dramatic effect.
I also believe the cast and crew stayed at the only recently finished Huating Hotel and Towers in Xujiahui, which was Shanghai's first 5 star international hotel in the modern era.
I don't cover it in the video, but apparently the large crowd scenes were so "energetic" that the main stars' safety meant they had to have a special group of body guards around them for security.
St. Ignatius Church is used in the movie, however JG Ballard actually went to Holy Trinity Church which is about 6km to the west, near the Bund and river.
The song the choir sing is a popular Welsh lullaby called Suo Gân which was chosen by director Steven Spielberg himself after he cast Welsh actor Christian Bale (from about 4,000 applicants). It was performed, however, by James Rainbird.
There are many other bits of trivia I picked up, for example, JG Ballard was himself on set during the early party scene, dressed as John Bull, but oddly this was cut from the film in the final edit, and Paul McGann is credited, but if he appears at all its only fleetingly.
I hope you enjoy my discoveries, it was certainly interesting putting this together.
Resources that helped;
wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_...)
IMDB
www.imdb.com/title/tt0092965/
That's Shanghai
www.thatsmags.com/shanghai/po...
.... and thanks to Wei Lan for assisting with access to the ambush rooftop.
Other interesting You Tube videos
The miniature planes
• EMPIRE OF THE SUN mini...
Film Analysis
• Empire of the Sun | Sp...
The trailer
• Empire of the Sun (198...
#shanghai #china #tourism #free
Great film field trip. I like Spielberg's movies very much, but as a Chinese, I have mixed feelings about this movie. I have a similar view to a friend's previous review, it's a very bad movie for Chinese people. The image of the Chinese in the movie is even a bit hateful. They steal furniture and bicycles, but the Japanese as invaders can make friends. The suffering of the Chinese during the war is completely insignificant in the stories of British children. If this is a problem with the original novel, it is really incomprehensible that a Jewish director continues to make films with such a stance. But no matter what, thank you for your video. In Shanghai and China, we need more cross-cultural exchanges, even if there may be some unpleasant or even hateful things in the process.
bro, that is what colonism is defined.😂
The book was seen through the author’s eyes as a child and reflected the way colonials treated the Chinese at that time, as their servants. That English child could admire the bravery of Japanese Kamikaze pilots and then experience the reality of how they treated their captives in the Japanese prison camp. The examples you give of Chinese stealing what remained after the British and other foreigners fled was an example of doing what the conquered Chinese had been forced to do in order to survive. I thought it was an excellent film on many levels and was faithful to the book.
@@celiad6012 I haven't read the novel, but from the movie I can't see any basic sympathy for the Chinese who were the biggest victims of the war at that time, not even as much as the emotion for the invaders. The author tells the story from a child's perspective, but the problem is that the author is no longer a child. If you don't have basic moral knowledge, don't use the innocence of children as an excuse. Otherwise, someone can tell a story about the experience of a member of the Hitler-Jugend. Do you like to hear it?
@@garynn611
In interviews, the author of “Empire of The Sun” has described what it was like for him growing up, during the 1930s in the protected, pampered and rarefied atmosphere of the international settlement, the Western Concessions, of Shanghai, and how he became aware of how the Chinese lived, and in many cases during his time there, starved to death on the streets. He goes into the general attitude of westerners towards the Chinese.
There is a UA-cam video of a BBC Radio documentary about JG Ballard called “Grand Tour Shanghai” about this time.
A book from the point of view of a Hitler Youth? It would be like a book documenting the terrible crimes committed by Red Guards during the purges of the Cultural Revolution.
There was one book (also made into a film) about the experiences of a young man growing up in an increasingly materialistic post-World War 2 Germany, 1949, called “ Das Brot der fruehen Jahre (The Bread of those Early Years” before the general population became aware of the Nazi atrocities. I haven’t read it.
It is important that all these experiences are documented so that we may try and learn from the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately, humans just never seem to learn.
@@garynn611 In interviews, the author of “Empire of The Sun” has described what it was like for him growing up, during the 1930s in the protected, pampered and rarefied atmosphere of the international settlement, the Western Concessions, of Shanghai, and how he became aware of how many Chinese lived during the Japanese occupation, and in many cases during his time there, starved to death on the streets. He goes into the general attitude of westerners towards the Chinese.
There is a UA-cam video of a BBC Radio documentary about JG Ballard called “Grand Tour Shanghai” about this.
You asked how I would view a book from the point of view of a Hitler Youth? It would be like a book documenting the crimes committed by Red Guards during the purges of the Cultural Revolution.
There was one book (also made into a film) about the experiences of a young man growing up in an increasingly materialistic post-World War 2 Germany, 1949, called “ Das Brot der fruehen Jahre (The Bread of those Early Years” before the general population became aware of the Nazi atrocities. I haven’t read it.
Empire of the Sun is a film I hate. Stephen Spielberg might have spent time researching the sites, but in the movie, he glorified the Japanese military. Coming from a Jewish background, he should have understood the pain of the people who suffered from the perpetrators of the Second World War - Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. In the movie, he saluted the Japanese military and honored their war spirit. Chinese civilians who suffered tremendously in the Sino-Japanese War were described as low-class, despicable, and deserving of their sufferings, ..., they were no better than ants. Films like this reveal the white men's mentality, thinking that they are above other races. Perhaps he should have studied more history and looked at what the Japanese military did to the Chinese people - the massacre of Nanjing, the notorious 731 units, and the scorched earth strategy the Japanese army carried out in the cities and towns they captured. In all, China lost 14 million in the war against the Japanese, but to Spielberg, the Japanese military is more respectable than those who stood up and fought against them.
If you find the above difficult to understand from your white men's perspective, try to think of a Chinese film in which a young Chinese boy in wartime Germany, standing outside the ghetto and saluting to the Nazi SS because they wore smart uniforms, and you will know.
100 thanks! A great story and a great film. I was amazed when I first saw this film because I wondered how they got the famous, iconic Shanghai street. Even then there was a good deal of high rise that had to be matted out.
Americans know about the war in the Pacific and the Normandy invasion but precious little else. China suffered a great deal at the hands of the Japanese. Perhaps it is time for a ceremony of contrition from Japan so that they may put it in the past.
As per your comment, we must be forever vigilant. I was not Jewish but I was brought up around Jewish parents that told their children the horrors of the death camps. I learned from them but I learned that it can happen to any people and we must stand guard against it....
In the film the boy had his toy airplane. It was a plot sub-text about the romance of flight. relax...
UA-cam, pls do not delete this comment:
I should add that Shanghai accepted more than 20.000 Jewish people escaping the NAZI persecution with no whatsoever documents required, while Boston harbor rejected them and sent back to Germany to face the gas chamber. For those who think i made this up, Google it. Today George Soros, using his money and power, and the whole other western politicians with Jewish background engage in anti-China campaign, how ungrateful some of these people are.
Another important fact here is, during WW2, Imperial Japan NAZI German ally. Mr Spielberg, you won many Oscars for Schindler's List, when it comes to China, you glorified NAZI's ally.
i was wondering why China goverment allowd it film in China,didnt they check the script ？
you are talking about a kid who didn't know better. there are many chinese who salute the nazi in that period, the nazi were the only one willing to give advanced technology to China. China had only 2 modern warship at the start of WWII. equipped with German guns after Japan block the sale of weapon to China which they were orginally intended to use. and honestly who would have known about the concentration camp when Japan and Germany first invaded, that was only realised after the war. Nanjing hasn't happened yet during the Shanghai campaign, when we look at history, we can't just see it from our angle of knowing the ending. most people were clueless about what would happen.
Ukraine is a prime example, while some of us knew how it was always going to end, the vast majority were cheering on the war, not understanding it would only end in chaos for the Ukrainian.
Why does the world willingly follow the white man when he is not above other races? The whole world uses the white man's electricity, machinery, knowledge, etc.
fascinating video, well done sir
对于中国人来说 这是一段很沉重的历史
The West probably don't understand it. To the Chinese, it was the equivalent to the Jew's "Holocaust". The conflict in China cost millions of lives, unheralded, unseen, under appreciated especially by the West to this day and misunderstanding as to why China simply has no choice but to beef up and modernize its miliary.
痛苦的
Americans know about the war in the Pacific and the Normandy invasion but precious little else. China suffered a great deal at the hands of the Japanese. Perhaps it is time for a ceremony of contrition from Japan so that they may put it in the past.
Thanks, Tim. I cannot imagine the amount of work behind this episode. Not only that you need to be really familiar with so many scenes in the movie, but also you match your shots perfectly with the original scenes (e.g. the lorry driving up to the bridge)
This is really impressive that you put all this together. I bet it was a lot of fun tracking down the locations and exploring the city.
Hopefully you or someone else is able to do it again 40 years hence and see what more has changed!
Thanks Tim. I thoroughly enjoyed the videop clips of old and new shanghai. It must have taken you a lot of your time in make it and I appreciate your hard work. Thanks
Great job tracking down all these angles. As I've never watched the movie, I'm unable to judge whether its portrayal of the war was historically accurate or not.
Thank you. This video really introduced me to this wonderful Spielberg's movie. It's a masterpiece indeed.
Intresting filming!
Tim, I have to say you are such a “有心人”。
👍🏻
Great effort Tim, that’s amazing, thank you
good work. i passed through there during a 1 day layover
Beautifully done. Thank you!
This video must have taken a lot of effort - but great result Tim!
It certainly took a "little" bit longer than my usual ones ! Thanks
Unbelievable huge effort to bring back all those memories
Great video! thanks!
This was truly amazing! After your video, I'll look at these streets differently when I walk by. Cheers!
Amazing video ❤
Really good video,so many details
Excellent work. Thanks for sharing and bringing back old memories. Cheers
My god, movies are so powerful... I've loved Japanese softpower from modern culture to anime to movies to food and so on, have many Japanese friends and never met a bad person of Japanese ancestry in my life, yet every time I see a movie reminding me of the truly truly horrific things done during the war in both Korea and China, many of which are still not acknowledged or not come to terms by the current Japanese government and the population (compared to Germany for example), I get strangely furious... which I always end up hating myself for it later. Movies can be manipulative and propaganda (which isn't always bad if it's true), but can also reach places (invaluably) where just looking at photos, or reading about a historical account, can't. Good show and thanks!
This is wonderful.
I also love Shanghai and have visited it many times.
This perspective is also interesting.
I want to watch the Empire of the Sun DVD again.
Wow! Thank you for making this video! I really enjoyed it. One of my fav movies.
This is so wonderful. Thanks!
Fascinating to see the real life vs the movie versions side by side!
I loved "Empire of the Sun" as a boy and watched it countless times. So when I had the chance to visit Shanghai 20 years ago, first thing I did was visit the french concession where many scenes from the movie was shot.
Amazing, I assumed that many of the Shanghai shots were filmed at the Shanghai film studios, as they have a mock up of Nanjing Lu as it supposedly was in the 30s. An amazing piece of work. I spent 4 years in Shanghai between 2018 and 2022, I also made a documentary about the Tintin story, the Blue Lotus while I was there and so recognise many of the places in your video. A part of my research included visiting former Japanese sites of occupation especially around Suzho Creek, the Astor Building which was the HQ of the Kempeitai and locations around Honkou, (Little Tokyo.) Well done!
Thank you for that effort to match the scenes with the present. I recall watching a "Making of Empire of the Sun" documentary in the late 1980s on late night TV where Steven Spielberg was interviewed. He felt at the time it was a unique opportunity to make the movie in Shanghai as he knew it was the last chance to do so before the modern wave of developments anticipated would transform Shanghai away from its colonial landscape. Ironically and fortunately it was impressive to see China did not destroy or erase the colonial architecture and heritage. This despite the violent and demeaning behaviour of the then (mostly Western) colonialists. Once again thank you.
Well, that is why pudong was developed in the 80s. Colonism and capitalism was at its peak on the west bund and heritage had been settled. The government wanted a contrast of the old and new on the other side of the river, to showcase their ambition to run a state in a different way.😂
@@heinlichnot a contrast so much as most of Pudong wasn’t developed. I doubt you have ever been there pre 90s.
Wonderful compilation! I was in Shanghai in 1988, perhaps less than a year after the movie was shot. At the time, I had no idea the movie was shot in Shanghai and I had not watched the movie though I had heard the title before. I've since lived in Shanghai since 1996 and it's nice that so many older neighborhoods still remain. In the late 90s, we were convinced they would eventually tear all the old stuff down and build skyscrapers, but fortunately, they changed their minds.
Amazing attention to detail in your video, matching the camera movement in every shot, really gives it a sense of depth and an additional layer of similarity. It must have taken many practice tries to get each shot aligned so well! Beautiful!
Super amazing shot!!
❤好赞！well done !
Great 👍🏼
37 years ago!! Thank you very much for your thoughtful work.
JG Ballard was held at Lunghua Camp at what is now Shanghai High School for the children of local elite cadres. It’s on Baise Road.
Enjoyed this. The music at the end with the floating case was particularly haunting.
sooooooo goooood!!!
thanks for the sharing, nice comparison
Great video Tim! So many changes in Shanghai. I'm Dutch with a Chinese background and remember I saw the movie in the cinema as a kid. After that I read the JG Ballard's novel. I like the movie and the book. It gives a perspective how an expat kid experience the horrors around him and how quickly he turned to an adult. So interesting how Spielberg made the movie in Shanghai in the 80s.
Very nice effort
amazing!
Nice work, can't have been easy recreating those angles. As someone who has been here since 1999, it was nice seeing Shanghai looking closer to how I remember it back then, even though 1999 was already quite a long time after the movies was filmed.
Thank you ~!
6:06 Huating Hotel got a dark history back in 2022 as an unqualified quarantine spot. I guess this video will become the most popular in your channel.
this video was so cool, i love those types of videos, really interesnting to see the contrast of them to now, also, if you could do a video on jaingwan stadium it would be cool, that place looks amazing, would to love to see more of it.
Great movie I had missed, just went and watched. Thanks for the infos and video, didn't know christian bale was a child star at such a young age, he did a terrific job for someone who has no experience.
这个视频太神奇了，你太厉害了，这一定花费了你大量的时间和精力，很棒的影片！
good film, well done,
Keep up the good work!
amazing..
This was really interesting, Thanks!
I actually live in Shanghai, but I guess when you live somewhere you don't really appreciate the place as much as a visitor. Gonna go give the film a watch sometime too.
Thanks!
Shanghai is so beautiful
Very cool. So much has changed since then.
Very cool! I remember that movie with Christian Bale!
That is brilliant ! Need watch the movie over again now !
100 thanks! A great story and a great film. I was amazed when I first saw this film because I wondered how they got the famous, iconic Shanghai street. Even then there was a good deal of high rise that had to be matted out.
Americans know about the war in the Pacific and the Normandy invasion but precious little else. China suffered a great deal at the hands of the Japanese. Perhaps it is time for a ceremony of contrition from Japan so that they may put it in the past.
good job
wow, this is so cool
Really great video, Tim, and wonderfully researched! I can't believe how many scenes you were able to find. Very, very minor small comment -- it's great you took the time to add in Chinese subtitles, but there seems to be some problem with the typeface which is mixing character styles (and some are not written correctly).
Thank you, and I am aware there were some subtitle issues with font and traditional / simplified etc, this is the first time I have "burned them in", and after A LOT of time simply had to go with the best I had. Ongoing process.
GOOD
Amazing work! Thank you, Tim.
有心人，加油，
That is awesome, peace is just so obviously precious
年年岁岁花相似，岁岁年年人不同。在这部影片里，那路那楼那水似乎没有太大的变化，但剧中人已完全不同，和平是简单的珍贵
wonderful
alas, you are right
What an incredible film that was. First film I remember making me cry. Your vid didn’t quite achieve that Tim but lovely nonetheless ❤
这老外对电影很熟悉啊。
Thank you Tim and your team taking the time revisiting the sites in the movie.
There are things that worth preserving while, some are not as valuable. So it's not as some medias claiming that, the Chinese government has been trying to demolish sites and cultures etc. to cover their dark histories. I know the Bund is one of the most exclusive and expensive area in China, I'm glad the government prevented individuals from taking down all the historical buildings for the sake of redevelopment.
I would sure like to meet this "team" you mention ....
Gosh... I saw this when I was a child.. my brother rented it from Blockbusters.. but I have forgotten that..... And this was... Wow.... How time have passed... Gosh..... Oh gosh...... So the film was about the Japanese occupation... in Shanghai.... I don't think I even remembered this. I mean.... Gosh......
The cinematography back then.... goodness me.... such old films.. but so good to look back now. I was 10 years old ! Now I am 46 !!! lol...... Thank you, for filming this. Goodness.....
THANKS FOR THIS MOVIE, THE WESTERN PEOPLE CAN ALSO FEEL HOW CRUEL OF THE JAPANESE INVASION IN CHINA DURING WW2
Wow, did not know that movie was actually filmed in China.
Thanks Tim! I used to live in Shanghai for 4 years, and Empire of the Sun is one of my favorite movies of all time. It was a joyful experience watching you recreate some of the shots from the film in present day Shanghai. Much appreciated! Have you thought about making other videos related to Shanghai’s history? More specifically the historical buildings and streets of the Shanghai International Settlement as well as the everyday life of the people of that time. I have visited lots of musuems in Shanghai dedicated to this part of history but I feel they are deliberately omitting foreigners from the exhibitions in favor of Chinese nationalism. It feels like they are trying to erase history.
The way your sensibilities are offended because Chinese museums focus on Chinese people really shows why Empire of the Sun is one of your favorite movies and why you shouldn’t even be allowed back in China.
Some Chinese subtitles are inaccurate but overall well done. 👍
Thanks, I tried my best but am aware there are mistakes, mainly with simplified to traditional?
这部片子看过😂
Thank you for sharing the locations and a fun trip. However I'm dead against the movie itself. It trivilaised the suffering of the Chinese population under invasion, brushed it under the table. Yet at the same time it glorified the misplaced and made up "honor" of the Japanese invaders. Quite the weeaboo this movie was TBH.
Luckily Shanghai back to China fast, or otherwise those beautiful buildings will just become history now
“niubility” is a funny internet slang coined over a decade ago which takes 牛逼(niubi) which means extremely marvelous and makes it a noun
Er.. no. "Nubile" means "nudity"... lol....
@@MeiinUK please look at 1:45 closely again at the spelling and trust a native Shanghainese
@@胡 : Chaos and "Niu-bility" ?? Huh.... Or should it not have been "chaos and nobility" ?.... 🤨...
@@MeiinUK young riches have their way of leaving marks on the cityscape
If there were sciences of 1930s it will be more interesting
Many thanks for your vlog. Unfortunately, this movie name was deleted on the post listed in Peace Hotel.
I am shanghainese and was impressed by this film prohibited press in China mainland by fucking CCP! Shanghai was just suffered by Covid-19 lockdown 2 years ago.
Shanghai suffered a sustained lockdown because China refused to lockdown. Get real.
港币样子
@@haixuyi so you are for CCP?
amazing alot of infastrucsture still the same
An era when China still using traditional Chinese . Good time
“Good time”? Lol.
And Huating Hotel was the very beginning of what happened or so-called SH lockdown in 2022
I watched this film and I dont understand how it glorifies Japan and discredits Chinese people. The film was very clear about how the IJA was oppressive
You speak Chinese now???
Christian Bale would eventually grow up to be Batman, at least he had a RP English accent instead of a trashy cockney one ! ...LoL
Those places in the film is just 10-15 minutes away from the place I lived when I was a kid
意义深重👍👍👍
This is quite amazing.
勿忘國恥國難
Next will be Tokyo 🗼,,,,,,, almost
感谢你的用心制作，把中国最悲惨的时代展现给世人
I am afraid the worse is yet to come....