IN the 'Quarry Bay' column (Sunday Morning Post, February 11) it was mentioned with a smile that China will be preparing for release on July 1, 1997 a major film, The Opium War. A few readers may recall a similar kind of film Beijing released in the autumn of 1983. It was called, The Burning of the Summer Palace and presented a view of the Boxer Rebellion period in the late Qing Dynasty when an international military expedition was sent to break the siege of the Foreign Legation Quarter in Beijing. The film arrived for China's National Day celebrations during a particularly acrimonious patch in Sino-British negotiations on Hong Kong's future. The premier was held in the old Astor Theatre. Invited guests, both Chinese and non-Chinese, were seated in the balcony, while ordinary folk took the seats downstairs. Every evil foreign stereotype was featured in the movie including an overweight, alcohol-swilling, foul-smelling, red-haired, stubble-bearded, loud-mouth, arrogant English soldier/diplomat. At a certain point in the film after the umpteenth virtuous Chinese woman had flung herself down a village well to certain death rather than be ravaged by the advancing English and foreign troops, real life cries of 'Sha, sha, sha' (kill, kill, kill) began to resonate in the theatre from below. The masses in the stalls had become very upset and agitated by what they were seeing on the screen. Meanwhile in the balcony blurred shadows were darting for the exits. The British Trade Commissioner of that time was sitting only a few seats away from me, and he made a strategic and particularly hasty retreat. It was not a night to be a red-haired gweilo on Nathan Road. Let all the young diplomats bridging 1997 take note when their invitations arrive for The Opium War. NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED
