5 Films & TV Shows Set In Beijing During The 1900s

• Shadow Magic

  Beijing The 1900s

  Beijing, 1902: an enterprising young portrait photographer named Liu Jinglun, keen on new technology, befriends a newly-arrived Englishman who's brought projector, camera, and Lumière-brothers' shorts to open the Shadow Magic theater. Liu's work with Wallace brings him conflict with tradition and his father's authority, complicated by his falling in love with Ling, daughter of Lord Tan, star of Beijing's traditional opera. Liu sees movies as his chance to become wealthy and worthy of Ling. When the Shadow Magic pair are invited to show the films to the Empress Dowager, things look good. But, is disaster in the script? And, can movies preserve tradition even as they bring change?

  Released in 2000 • 116 minutes
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  The Last Emperor

  Beijing Shanghai The 1980s The 1960s The 1950s The 1940s The 1930s The 1920s The 1910s The 1900s

  1500 slaves. 353,260,000 royal subjects. Warlords. Concubines. And 2 wives. He was the loneliest boy in the world. — A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

  Released in 1987 • 163 minutes
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  Qiu Jin

  Beijing Zhejiang Province Tokyo Prefecture The 1890s The 1900s

  Biopic of Qiu Jin (1877-1907), early Chinese feminist and martyred revolutionary.

  Released in 1983 • 136 minutes
• 

  55 Days at Peking

  Beijing The 1900s

  A handful of men and women held out against the frenzied hordes of bloodthirsty fanatics! — Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.

  Released in 1963 • 154 minutes
• Alarm in Peking

  Beijing The 1900s

  Set against the backdrop of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion...

  Released in 1937 • 89 minutes