Joan Chen

Among the finest Western-made movies about the East, Bernardo Bertolucci's epic traces the emergence of modern China through the life of one man. After taking on Italian history in The Conformist and 1900, the director was well placed to tackle the story of Pu Yi (played by John Lone as an adult). The narrative proceeds along two tracks: the emperor's post-Forbidden City existence and his cloistered upbringing. Educated by Scotland's Reginald Johnston (Peter O'Toole, in a role slated for Sean Connery), the monarch develops into a sophisticated, if powerless figure.

Lust, Caution, Ang Lee's follow up to Brokeback Mountain, for which he won the Academy AwardÆ for Best Director, continues his exploration of people with a passion for each other trapped in a world where their passion could be life-threatening, but in a very different context this time. Set in China during the Japanese occupation of early World War II, the underlying plot concerns the story of young Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei), an actress and member of a small group of student resistors planning to infiltrate the home of Mr.

Based on James Clavell's internationally best-selling novel, Tai Pan is an unforgettable adventure during the early China trade when epic adventurers carved dynasties out of barren rock and the opium trade pitted father against son, and friends against one another. For trader Dirk Struan, the silver and opium exchange is almost impossible to resist, but everything comes to an action-packed head when he is forced to choose between the ones he loves and profit beyond his imagination.