China Nights

China Nights

What is China Nights about? 

Directed by Osamu Fushimizu in 1940, China Nights is a Japanese wartime propaganda film about a Japanese soldier named Hase who finds Keiran, an anti-Japanese orphan, in occupied China and allows her to stay him. It is revealed that her family was killed and her home destroyed by the Japanese. She has trouble fitting in with the Japanese community, and many of Hase's Japanese friends and family members are upset that she is uncooperative. This conflict reaches a head when Hase slaps her, which ends up making her fall in love with him.

In part 2 of the film, Keiran and Hase get married, and their romance is explored. Keiran is finally accepted by the Japanese community as she assimilates more to Japanese culture. Hase goes back to fight in the war against the Chinese, and Keiran worries for him. She is then told that he has died at war. She is devastated, and almost commits suicide.

How is this film melodramatic?

This film is different from the others we watched because it is pushing an overt political agenda that is hard to ignore, and makes it hard to look at it as a standalone story. Although there are many moments in the film that are very melodramatic, they are used to enhance the propaganda.

The theme of a forbidden romance between two lovers from different worlds, and the way class differences play into this, is a melodramatic trope that is definitely present in this film. In this case, the difference in class is not only due to socioeconomic status but also ethnicity. Keiran, as a Chinese girl, is not accepted by the Japanese and only becomes a part of the community when she falls in love with Hase and wholeheartedly accepts the Japanese way of life. We see a more complex version of the social hierarchy we see in films like Mother's Melody or Golden Demon. In this case, the melodramatic trope is used not only to heighten the drama but to push an agenda. By presenting this story, the film is intending to show the audience that assimilation to Japanese culture is necessary. It is advocating for better Sino-Japanese relations, but only on the pretext that the Chinese conform to Japanese standards. Melodramatic themes exist, but are only used as vehicles to promote a different kind of messaging.

One scene that makes the message behind the movie glaringly obvious is the scene in which Toshiko talks to Keiran about her brother's death. She finds Keiran out in the ruins of a house and asks what she is doing there. Keiran says that these are the ruins of her house, and reveals that her parents were killed and her house demolished by the Japanese. This is why she holds a grudge against the Japanese. Toshiko reveals to her that her brother died in the war as well, but that she does not hold any grudge against the Chinese. She says, "I believe those killed gave up their lives for the peace of both nations. That's why I can bear this sadness." This is a common melodramatic trope of a big reveal that explains the protagonist's tragic backstory and grief. Toshiko then reveals her own grief. In this situation, though, this exchange of tragic stories is presented to make a point. These two experiences are equated, and the idea is that both sides of the war are making sacrifices so that peace can be achieved. Toshiko's statement is framed as the "correct" way to think about this pain, and the statement is basically fed directly to the audience. The melodrama is used for the purposes of promoting this message, and it takes us out of the story a bit.

The second half of the movie is melodramatic in a much more traditional way. It is essentially the story of a woman who waits for her husband to come back from war, thinks that her husband has died, but then is saved when it turns out that he is not. It is very much in line with the traditional melodramatic format of forced drama coming out of misunderstandings and circumstance. However, this too is all tinged with Japanese propaganda. The war is glorified, and Hase is framed as a hero for his role as a soldier. Keiran has now completely assimilated to Japanese culture and fully accepts the war, and she is framed as a better woman for it.

For these reasons, I do not believe China Nights can be categorized as a true melodrama. It does have many melodramatic elements, story structures, and themes, but these elements are never there purely to heighten the drama or progress the story. The melodrama is secondary to the political messaging and allegorical nature of the film, and it takes the focus away from the story.

Other Notes

This movie is notable for the controversy it caused as a result of its depiction of Sino-Japanese relations. Chinese viewers were offended because they felt as though Keiran was depicted as inferior or primitive in the beginning, and only becomes a "good" character when she is exposed to Japanese culture. They also felt as though the slap of the Chinese woman by a Japanese man, which resulted in the Chinese woman falling in love, was metaphorical of a physical submission of the Chinese by the Japanese. Although the film advocates for peace and cooperation between the two cultures, it does so in a very one-sided way, emphasizing Japanese culture as superior and implying that the Chinese should conform to their culture.

The movie is also notable because of the lead actress, Yoshiko Yamaguchi. She was a Chinese-born Japanese actress that had a successful career in both China and Japan. She did not reveal her Japanese heritage until after the war, which means that she was presumed to be fully Chinese in both ethnicity and cultural background at the time that this film was released. She was heavily criticized by Chinese audiences because of her involvement with China Nights for its offensive depiction of Chinese characters, and actually apologized to a group of Chinese reporters for being a part of it. She was an object of criticism from both Japan and China for not fully being a part of either culture, and has a rather tragic and melodramatic life of her own. It is interesting to see the ways in which Keiran's problems as a character are mirrored in Yamaguchi's own life.