Farewell My Concubine: Identity, Class, and Revolution in Chen Kaige's Film

Introduction: Opera, Fate, and Twentieth-Century China

Chen Kaige's 1993 film Farewell My Concubine traces the development of several characters and the evolution of China throughout the twentieth century, from the Warlord Era in the 1920s until the end of the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s. The social and political upheavals occurring in the country mirror the strife in the personal lives of Cheng Dieyi, Duan Xiaolou, and Juxian. War, chaos, and social turbulence serve as apt backdrops for the depiction of these three central characters.

The events of the film begin in Beijing during the Warlord Era, in 1924. A prostitute named Yanhong carries her child through a crowded public area, where a performance by the Beijing Opera enthralls a rowdy crowd. Yanhong ignores a man who calls her a whore — an act that sets the stage for one of the film's overarching themes: social class conflict and the ill treatment of both actors and prostitutes. During the performance, a young boy named Laizi tries to run away from his troupe, and a bold teenager named Shitou proudly beats a brick over his head as a display of prowess and strength. His teachers subsequently beat him for his divergence from the script, and while he is being badly beaten, the prostitute with the young boy waves to him kindly.

The Beijing Opera school doubled as a sort of orphanage, and Yanhong brings her boy for enrollment. She begs the master, "Don't look down on us." The boy is denied entry because he has six fingers on one of his hands; Yanhong runs into the alleyway, cuts off her son's extra finger with a cleaver, and returns to the master. Her son Douzi is admitted into the school but is promptly called a "son of a whore" in the boys' dormitory. The school is run with an oppressive, almost tyrannical atmosphere. Soon, Shitou takes Douzi under his wing, and the two not only become stage brothers but also very close friends.

From this early point in the film, sexuality and sexual identity emerge as major issues for Douzi. When he first enters the Beijing Opera, he is noticeably effeminate and quickly lands the part of Concubine Yu in the ancient Chinese opera Farewell My Concubine. Douzi's gender identity is conflicted throughout the film, and he falls deeply in love with Shitou. Their friendship develops in a way that closely mirrors the events of Farewell My Concubine, with Douzi naturally playing the part of the concubine and Shitou naturally playing the role of the "bold and resourceful" King Chu. One of the main messages of both the film and the opera is that "no matter how resourceful you are, you can't fight fate." The main characters of the play-within-a-play and the main characters of the film cannot escape their fates, and the movie unfolds like a classic Greek tragedy.

Social Class and the Stigma of Actors and Prostitutes

In spite of the Japanese invasion, Chinese social hierarchies remain solidly in place. At the bottom rung of the ladder are the actors and prostitutes. Masters Guan and Yuan Shiqing emerge as clear representatives of the upper class. Wealthy patrons of the Beijing Opera like Master Yuan Shiqing play a key role in Farewell My Concubine, because their demise after the impending Communist revolution illustrates the total restructuring of Chinese society. Master Yuan Shiqing becomes not only a patron of the opera but a personal sugar daddy and lover to Dieyi. Thus, Dieyi further falls into his role as concubine, and his life begins to mirror the life of Concubine Yu uncannily. Dieyi's dual roles as both actor and concubine also solidify the class connection between actors and prostitutes that the film works hard to elucidate.

The treatment and perception of prostitutes is further illustrated through the character of Juxian, who was once the prettiest courtesan at the House of Blossoms. Duan rescues her, Cinderella-style, from the whorehouse. When she leaves, the madam tells her condescendingly, "Once a whore, always a whore." Her words prove prophetic as the events of the film unfold, revealing that Juxian is never able to escape her past — even years later during the Cultural Revolution.

Social stratification even plagues those at the lowest rungs of the ladder, who must vie for as high a position as they possibly can. For example, when Master Yuan Shiqing commissions the opera and pours money their way, Dieyi feels elevated another rank in the eyes of society, quickly becoming the most in-demand actor in the opera. Actors were viewed poorly by the Japanese as well as by the Chinese. When the Japanese call Duan Xiaolou a "low-life" one night, they spark the young man's temper. The Japanese forces proceed to imprison Duan Xiaolou for his nationalist leanings and outspoken resentment toward them.

Personal Identity and the Japanese Invasion

The film moves through several successive stages in China's twentieth-century evolution. After the Warlord Era and the final hurrah of the Manchu rulers, China is invaded by imperialist Japan. The invasion sparks an infectious wave of nationalism, which Shitou — called Duan Xiaolou in his adulthood — embraces easily, though Douzi, whose adult name is Cheng Dieyi, does not. The differences between Duan Xiaolou and Cheng Dieyi first emerge during the Japanese invasion, and the rift between them only grows deeper when the handsome and clearly heterosexual Duan falls in love with a courtesan from a local whorehouse named Juxian. Just as Japan invades China and threatens the old order, so too does Juxian "invade" the lives of Duan and Dieyi. In both cases, tragedy ensues, following closely the basic plot of Farewell My Concubine. The search for personal identity on the part of the three main characters parallels China's own search for a national identity during these turbulent times.

Juxian and Duan become engaged; what started as another little "play" turns into a real marriage. Their relationship troubles Dieyi, making him intensely jealous. "This is the day we say goodbye," he tells Duan, and breaks off both their professional and personal relationship. Dieyi then attempts to assert social superiority over Juxian, sarcastically claiming that Duan is now acting out the play "Gangster King and His Whore."

The Japanese, apparently enamored with Chinese opera and having heard of Dieyi's greatness, blackmail him into performing for them. Although Dieyi still harbors resentment toward his friend for marrying Juxian, he agrees to perform for the Japanese if it means freeing Duan from prison. Dieyi feels little if any nationalist sentiment; his primary loyalty is to Chinese culture, to the opera, and to perfecting his art. Politics mean nothing to him. However, his performance before the Japanese army would plague Dieyi for the remainder of his life. Even Duan Xiaolou is disgusted by his friend's perceived betrayal of the Chinese people and, despite having been released from prison, spits on Dieyi and shuns him.

Conclusion: The Limits of Revolutionary Change

The film captures decades of cultural, political, and social turmoil in China and juxtaposes several layers of characters in a play-within-a-play format. The Cultural Revolution eliminated the outward appearance of the old social stratification, but the lives of actors and prostitutes remained substandard. When Duan, Dieyi, and Juxian stand before their Communist accusers, all three are ridiculed for being low-life actors and prostitutes — a bold assessment of the failure of the proletarian revolution to instill social equity on top of a millennia-old Chinese social structure.