Guang Li
| The Children of Huang Shi | |
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US theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Roger Spottiswoode |
| Produced by |
Arthur Cohn Wieland Schulz-Keil Jonathon Shteinman |
| Written by |
Jane Hawksley James MacManus |
| Starring |
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers Radha Mitchell Chow Yun-fat Michelle Yeoh Guang Li |
| Music by | David Hirschfelder |
| Cinematography | Zhao Xiaoding |
| Edited by | Geoffrey Lamb |
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Release date
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Running time
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125 minutes |
| Country | Australia, China, Germany |
| Language | English, Chinese, Japanese |
| Box office | $7,782,470 |
The Children of Huang Shi (Chinese: 黄石的孩子; working title: The Bitter Sea, also known as Escape from Huang Shi and Children of the Silk Road) is a Chinese 2008 film. The film centres on the story of George Hogg and the sixty orphans that he led across China in an effort to save them from conscription during the Second Sino-Japanese war.
George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) is a young British journalist from Hertfordshire in England. In 1938, during the early days of the Japanese occupation of China, he sneaks into Nanjing, China, by pretending to be a Red Cross aid worker. Arriving in Nanjing, Hogg witnesses and photographs the poverty, ruins, and corpses on the streets. He proceeds to write a daily journal about his findings when he is interrupted by the sounds from outside. Upon peering outside the window, Hogg witnesses Japanese soldiers round up Chinese refugees and proceed to massacre the group. He anxiously takes photos of this event by the window. Later at night, Hogg is captured by the Japanese while photographing them committing atrocities. He is about to be executed when Chen Hansheng (Chow Yun-fat), a Chinese communist resistance fighter, saves him. While hiding in the rubble with Hansheng, Hogg witnesses the execution of two of his colleagues by the Japanese. Overwhelmed by shock, he inadvertently reveals their presence. A firefight ensues, and Hogg is wounded. He wakes up to Lee Pearson, (Radha Mitchell), checking on his wounds and discovers he has been brought to a rebel camp. With nowhere to go for now, Hansheng tells Hogg, on Lee's suggestion, to rest at an orphanage housing 56 young boys and only an aged grandmother to take care of them. However, on the night of his arrival, Hogg is called out by one of the boys to a strange location, and he is savagely attacked with sticks by the orphans. Thankfully, Lee arrives just in time and threatens to abandon the boys, leaving them without medical supplies or food. Lee explains to Hogg that she runs the orphanage and drops by from time to time with supplies.
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Wikipedia