I had a very good lesson today about Chinese History.   There was a time, about 1800 years ago, when China was split into many small cities.   The cities combined into three parts, so there were three kingdoms.  This was a way of creating balance in the country.
 
 
 
 
it is a good idea to make three parts:
 
 
if A attacks B, then C can attack A and therefore A will decide not to attack B
Perhaps C will support B and then A will lose.
 
 
"Go to see this film !!!" my student told me
 
Some of the film is not true, but the basic idea is true.   This recommendation comes from a student at Embassy.
He recommends this movie.
 
 

Red Cliff (film)

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Red Cliff
Directed by John Woo
Produced by John Woo
Terence Chang
Han Sanping
Written by Screenplay:
John Woo
Chen Han
Sheng Heyu
Novel:
Chen Shou
Starring Tony Leung
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Zhang Fengyi
Chang Chen
Zhao Wei
Hu Jun
Nakamura Shidō II
Lin Chi-ling
You Yong
Music by Tarō Iwashiro
(Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra)
Cinematography Lü Yue
Zhang Li
Editing by Angie Lam
Yang Hongyu
Robert A. Ferretti
Studio China Film Group Corporation
Beijing Film Studio
Lion Rock Entertainment
Distributed by Hong Kong:
Mei Ah Entertainment
Edko Films
Singapore:
MediaCorp Raintree Pictures
Japan:
Avex Group
South Korea:
Showbox
Thailand:
Sahamongkol Film International
Australia:
Icon Entertainment International
International sales:
Summit Entertainment
Release date(s) Part 1:
10 July 2008 (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea)[1]
18 July 2008 (Vietnam)
Part 2:
7 January 2009 (China)
22 January 2009 (Korea)
23 January 2009 (Vietnam)
Running time 280 minutes (total)
Country China
Language Mandarin Chinese
Budget US$80 million
Gross revenue Worldwide (Part I and II):
$228,000,000

Red Cliff (Chinese: 赀壁; pinyin: Chìbì) is a Chinese epic film based on the Battle of Red Cliffs and events during the end of the Han Dynasty and immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. The film was directed by John Woo, and stars Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Lin Chi-ling and Zhao Wei.

Within Asia, Red Cliff was released in two parts, totaling over four hours in length. The first part was released in July 2008 and the second in January 2009.

[1] Outside of Asia, a single 2½ hour film was released in 2009,[1] though the two-part version was later released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK.[2] With an estimated budget of US$80 million, Red Cliff is the most expensive Asian-financed film to date.[3] The first part of the film grossed US$124 million in Asia[4] and broke the box office record previously held by Titanic in mainland China.[5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLgDcvqVAw   this is the trailer or preview of the movie

 

My student told me that there is a book called "The red cliff" and the book is not entirely true.  there are some changes to make the book more interesting. 

The movie COMPRESSES the story about the battle, so the history is changed even more in the movie.

So the movie changes some of the history.  The idea is to read the story and then you will be inspired to learn the true history.    This situation is similar to the movie BRAVE HEART with Mel Gibson as William Wallace.   Therreally was a William Wallace, he fought three battles and he was killed when four horses pulled his arms and legs from his body.  It is called "Drawn and quartered"   -- horrible.   The change made in the movie was the chronology.   Wallace was killed before the king died in the movie.   In the real history, the king died first and it was a later king who killed Wallace.  

My student and I encourage you to learn more about Chinese and Scottish history.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braveheart

Historical inaccuracies

Mel Gibson as William Wallace anachronistically wearing woad

Historian Elizabeth Ewan describes Braveheart as a film which "almost totally sacrifices historical accuracy for epic adventure".[19]

Historian Sharon Krossa notes that the film contains numerous historical errors, beginning with the wearing of belted plaid by Wallace and his men. She points out that in the period in question, "... no Scots ... wore belted plaids (let alone kilts of any kind)."[20] Moreover, when highlanders finally did begin wearing the belted plaid, it was not "in the rather bizarre style depicted in the film."[20] She compares the inaccuracy to "... a film about Colonial America showing the colonial men wearing 20th century business suits, but with the jackets worn back-to-front instead of the right way around."[20] She remarks "The events aren't accurate, the dates aren't accurate, the characters aren't accurate, the names aren't accurate, the clothes aren't accurate -- in short, just about nothing is accurate" [21]

Historian Alex von Tunzelmann writing in The Guardian noted several historical inaccuracies: William Wallace never met Isabelle, as she married the Prince of Wales three years after Wallace's death; and the primae noctis decree was never used by King Edward.[22] (in fact, there is little historical evidence that primae noctis existed in the first place). In 2009 the film was second on a list of "most historically inaccurate movies" in The Times.[23]

Screenwriter Randall Wallace is very vocal about defending his script from historians who have dismissed the film as a Hollywood perversion of actual events. Admitting that Braveheart is based more on Blind Harry's poem than any historical source, he has said: "Is Blind Harry true? I don't know. I know that it spoke to my heart and that's what matters to me, that it spoke to my heart."[24]

In the 2007 humorous non-fictional historiography An Utterly Impartial History of Britain, author John O'Farrell notes that Braveheart could not have been more historically inaccurate, even if a "Plasticine dog" had been inserted in the film and the title changed to William Wallace and Gromit, referencing the popular series of British short films titled Wallace and Gromit.

In the DVD audio commentary of Braveheart, director Mel Gibson acknowledges many of the historical inaccuracies but defends his choices as director, noting that the way events were portrayed in the film were much more "cinematically compelling" than the historical and/or mythical fact.

====

The real William Wallace:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace

Nigel Tranter wrote a historical novel titled The Wallace, published in 1975, which is said by academics to be more accurate than its literary predecessors.

A well-known account of the life of Wallace is presented in the 1995 film Braveheart, directed by and starring Mel Gibson, written by Randall Wallace, and filmed in both Scotland and Ireland. Despite its many historical inaccuracies, the film was a commercial and critical success, winning five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

 
 if you have questions, you can write to me and I will pass the questions to my student
 
steve mccrea   freeenglishlessons@gmail.com 
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