A time to remember full actor's lines

A Time To Remember-------A Synopsis

“A Time To Remember” is told entirely through Dr. Payne’s point of view. The love story begins when young beautiful Qiuqiu knocks on Payne’s door. She needs his medical expertise. Payne fall in love with Qiuqiu at first sight but it’s an unrequited love.
Qiuqiu is the consort of revolutionary hero Jin, who suffers from seizures caused by old head wounds. As a child, Qiuqiu witnessed the execution of communist party members, which was carried out by her father Hao Ming. She disowns him and is sent by her mother to live in a missionary orphanage. Soon after, her mother commits suicide. Qiuqiu’s tragic fate provides her with a completely fearless dedication to the communist cause.
At first Payne doesn’t understand Qiuqiu’s love for Jin, but finally realizes that they are it’ll cost them their lives. Mean while Hao Ming has becomes the brutal chief of the Guomingdang secret police. In his hunt for the communist leader Jin, he discovers that Qiuqiu is his long lost daughter, Instead of arresting her he uses Qiuqiu to ruin Jin’s reputation with his comrades in the underground, At a lavish father-daughter reunion Qiuqiu gets her revenge and shots Hao Ming. And she is pregnant with Jin’s child.
Jin finally realizes just how much she loves him and the price she is willing to pay to protect him, so he offers to give himself up in exchange for commuting Qiuqiu’’s death sentence. Their love transcends all the conflict that surrounds them.
Jin is executed as his daughter is born is the prison hospital. Qiuqiu dies at child birth. Her child, Pearl, is raised by Payne who loves her as his own.

The sun rises, an eagle flies up towards heaven and suddenly stops, almost as if it’s frozen in the blue sky… No one knows why the eagle flies, what he needs…

Prelude

Payne ( Off-screen Voice):
Many years ago, I lived in old Shanghai. Like all the foreigners stationed there, I enjoyed some very special privileges. We almost forgot about the tough times back home--the Depression never touched us in Shanghai--the Paris of the Orient. It was a terrible time to be Chinese, but nothing seemed to bother us. We were there for a good time.


Chapter One: Visit on a rainy night

[ Shanghai, in the 1930s,. In the midst of popular jazz tune “ I’ve got you under my skin”, a young American doctor named Payne is obviously enjoying his life in a luxurious bar.]

Clarke: That’s my best friend, Robert Payne, hi is an American. Ah, Hao Ming, how are you!

Hao Ming: Good evening, Clarke.

Clarke: A beer for my friend. That’s my friend. Payne, there is someone like to meet you. I’m sorry, I’ve got to take him away for a while. Dr. Payne, I’d like you to meet Mr. Hao Ming, I suppose you could say we are colleagues. Dr. Robert Payne is my American friend. When he is not dancing, he is a surgeon.

Hao Ming: I am delighted to meet you, Dr. Payne. Actually, you and I are in a similar business, so let’s have a toast for similar business.

Payne: Similar business?

Hao Ming: Yes. If something bad is growing inside one of your patients, you cut it out, make him better again. I operate on society. Society is my patient and if necessary, I, too use a knife. So we are both doctors. The difference is you use a knife to cure and I use it to kill.

[In the late night during the rain, a girl in a red cloak knocks at the door.]

Payne: Can I help you?

Qiu Qiu: Is this the Plum Blossom.

Payne: Yes, this is the Plum Blossom. But that apartment is empty. Nobody lives there.

Qiu Qiu: Someone told me there’s a doctor living here?

Payne: The doctor isn’t there, he is here.

Qiu Qiu: You?

Payne: I’m Robert Payne, I’m an American doctor.

Qiu Qiu: My husband is ill, it’s serious. I’ve come to ask for your help.

Payne: I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t want to help… It’s just… It’s very late. Besides whoever gave you my address should have known, it’s the hospital policy, we never pay house visits and not just for a …

Qiu Qiu: A China man? I recall your Hippocratic Oath, I shall carry out this work in a pure and sacred spirit, so long as it’s for the good of the sick, I shall go into the house of any man.

[Deeply impressed by her words and her beauty, Payne follows the girl into an old house, They walk up the creaking staircase and enter an attic. In the dim light, they see a man in his forties sitting upright in a chair, his hands are tied. And hi sis quivering with pain, and drenched in sweat.]

Payne: Untie him. Take off his shirt. Allow me. Oh, my god!

[ His lean body is full of scars.]

Payne: Well, he has gun shot wounds from at least five different occasions. There’s another wounds caused by a hand grenade exploding at close range. I suspect some of those fragments are still inside of him, caused a sort of epilepsy. He’s living with excruciate pain. I left my business card. I want you to come to the hospital tomorrow for some pain killers.

Qiu Qiu: I…OK.

Payne: What’s your name?

Qiu Qiu: Qiu Qiu.

Payne: Well, my guess is as good as my diagnosis, his man is not your husband.

Chapter Two: A Sudden Change

[The next morning, Payne goes to the hospital in order to fetch some medicine.]

Payne: Hi.

Young Nurse: I’m sorry, Dr. Payne, this prescription needs the chairman’s signature.

Payne: Oh, I will have the Chairman to sign it tomorrow. Come on, don’t worry. I will have is signed for you first thing in the morning.

[But Qiu Qiu doesn’t dome yet. So Payne rides a bike through streets and lanes searching for that old house. At last he finds it by memory. He pushes it open. And just as he steps inside, a crowd of agents swarm in, knocking him down.]

Agents: Arrest him, he’s a Communist! Don’t move, take him out. Communist.

Payne: I’m an American, I’m a doctor! I’m an American, I’m a doctor!

[Payne is taken in to a prisoner’s van. Suddenly he sees Hao Ming coming out of a black cab. ]

You made a mistake! I am an American! I am not a Communist! Hao Ming, Hao Ming, it’s Robert Payne. Hao Ming, please help me!

[Payne follows Hao Ming into the attic room.]

You have to understand, I normally never do this. But the girl said her husband was sick. She gave me a lot of money. So I game him an injection.

Hao Ming: What does this man look like?

Payne: He was thin, average Chinese.

Hao Ming: How old was he?

Payne: About 40.

Hao Ming: What about the woman?

Payne: She was much younger than the man , just an ordinary girl. Of course… she was very beautiful. Are you sure they’re the Communists you are looking for?

[Hao Ming turns into another room, a room where a woman used to live in . Under the quilt, he finds a jade pendant, something belongs to her daughter.]

Why did you do this? You said you were looking for two Communists, and these people have nothing to do with this. I don’t understand, these old women, these children, do you think they are Communists. Hao Ming!

Hao Ming (Off-screen Voice):
I had an idealistic youth, too. We were very naive and believed Russia’s revolution was soon to be our victory, too. It’s very romantic to follow your ideals. But have you ever thought of the price you will have to pay?

[Looking at the black holes of the guns, and his pretty little daughter, Hao Ming pulls the trigger. One of his Communist comrades falls down.]

Hao Ming: From that day, my daughter thought I was a monster, she wouldn’t see me… Finally, my wife sent her away without telling me.

Payne: What about your wife?

Hao Ming: She committed suicide.

Payne: And you never look for your daughter?

Hao Ming: Mr. Payne, is my story interesting?


Chapter Three: QiuQiu and Jin

Chairman: Don’t explain it to me anymore. The only thing I know is that you’ve been arrested and that’s a fact. I will not allow these kind of things to happen in my hospital. The political situation in Shanghai is very complicated. You may not understand but I do! From now on, you will be temporarily replaced by Dr. Zhang.

Payne: What am I going to do?

Chairman: You’re only to do your rounds in the wards. We’ll talk bout your job after things cool down, You have to understand that it’s good for the hospital and it would be better for you this way. Now Dr. Zhang is moving into your office, go and clean it out.

Young Nurse: Dr. Payne. Doctor, has the Chairman signed the prescription yet?

Payne: Please, some other time, OK?

Young Nurse: Doctor, It wasn’t easy for me to get this job, you know.

Old Nurse: Doctor Payne, I’m sorry. But I have no choice. It’s the Chairman’s order.

Payne: OK, that’s OK.

[Payne pushes open his office door. Unexpectedly he sees Qiu Qiu.]

Qiu Qiu: Dr. Payne, sorry, I missed you yesterday, I had a little something to take care of . Can I get that prescription? Doctor Payne, are you OK?

Payne: I don’t know you, where did you come from? Because where I came from, you are not supposed to end up with the gun to your head when you try to help someone.

Qiu Qiu: Please listen to me…

Payne: I almost lost everything because of you. And that may not mean anything to you or your husband, but this is my life.

Qiu Qiu: But I…

Payne: I don’t want to hear about it. In fact I don“t want you here right now. Please leave.

Qiu Qiu: I, I am really sorry.

Payne: Why are you still standing there? I’m asking you to get out of my office. I don“t want to be used by you anymore. Get out!

Qiu Qiu: So we are the people they want to arrest.

[After calming down, he realizes he’s quite harsh on the girl. A few minutes later he is out on a bus. He sees Qiu Qiu, weeping helplessly on her chair. When she sees Payne, a smile appears on her face. She tells Payne all about it. It was several years ago, Qiu Qiu met Jin, an outstanding Communist leader. That time she was still a little girl who threw herself into revolution. After hearing Jin’s exciting speech, Qiu Qiu was allowed to go to his room. And there she saw a sick man, sweating on chair with a book beside him. Qiu Qiu then began to read the book to him.]

“The sun rises, an eagle flies up towards heaven and suddenly, almost as if it’s frozen in the blue shy… No one knows why the eagle flies, what he needs…”

Qiu Qiu (Off-screen Voice):
I didn“t head to north and join the student army to fight the Japanese like I wanted. I accepted a secret task, to act as Jin’s wife. The Party leaders decided we should stay in Shanghai for treatment of his sickness. I didn’t understand why he picked me. But I felt lucky, because I had finally become one of his soldiers.

Qiu Qiu: Are you afraid?

Payne: How was he?

Qiu Qiu: He’s much better now. He wants to meet you.

[In a three-story building in the suburb of Shanghai, Payne sees Jin. He’s bending over a big map of China, very excited.]

Payne: Robert Payne.

Jin: So you’re Doctor Payne. Please forgive me but I can“t reveal my real name. You can call me Jin. Oh, if I had this on the Long March, it would have been a real luxury. Last year at this time we had fought our way to Guizhou, but no one had a map showing the whole country. Finally, we found one in a church, but all the town’s names were in Italian, so we had to take the Italian missionary with us. His job was to decipher and translate the map. In return we had to provide him with his own stretcher.

Payne: Amazing, it’s as if all of China under your feet.

Jin: That day will come, but it won’t be me standing on top, it’ll be the Chinese people.

Payne: You’re a romantic.

Jin: It’s not a romance, this is about conviction.

Payne: Do you really believe you’re going to win?

Jin: Definitely. Your own experience should be enough proof of that.

Payne: My experience?

Jin: You saw how they arrested all those people when they were only looking for the two of us. What do you think they’re afraid of? The people are waking up.

Payne: Pardon me, Jin. But I heard the million-strong army of Chang Kai shek wiped out the Red Army.

Jin: Here“s one of them standing in front of you right now. That’s why I came here to show everyone that the Red Army has not been exterminated. We’re still fighting for our ideals. Is everything ready?

Qiu Qiu: Yes. Let me do this.

Payne: Is that why you risked your life coming to Shanghai?

Jin: Didn’t you call me a romantic? There is a reason why I asked you here today. We really want the outside world to know more about what’s going on in China, especially Westerners. What if you were to put your own personal experiences in an article, now that would make an interesting story.

Payne: How did you know I wrote articles?

Jin: The China Review has a lot of readers in Shanghai. That’s how Qiu Qiu knew about you.

Payne: You look completely different form when you were sick.

Jin: You mean I look terrible before? Well, our first meeting was under rather unusual circumstances.

Payne: Well, I’m a doctor, I can“t evaluate someone from an aesthetic point of view. But I still think you should come to the hospital for a check up. I can arrange that… and don’t be concerned, I’, a much better doctor than I’m a writer.

Jin: I’ll think about it. You see my condition is not such a big deal. These are old wounds from years ago. I am fine.

Payne: Can I ask you a personal question?

Jin: Yes, of course.

Payne: Are you Qiu Qiu’s husband?

Jin: What? Husband? You don’t really understand us. We are not couple. We are comrades. My wife was murdered five years ago.

Payne: I’m sorry.

Jin: Well, thank you very much for coming to see me. We must leave now. Could you leave a half hour later?

Payne: Jin, come to the hospital for a check up.

Jin: I’ll let you know. Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave.

[They are gone. The house is haunted by the familiar scent of Qiu Qiu. Payne knows he is in love with her.]

Chapter Four: Payne drowns in sorrow

[Several months later, in the luxurious bar.]

Clarke: My grandfather was in the Majesty’s Navy, sailed here in the last century. The one thing that he brought back with him, was a small, embroidered shoe. I still remember the scent… He said it belonged to a beautiful woman, who was as delicate and dainty as the shoe was beautiful. He fell in love with her you see. But a sailor can’t bring back a living person, so he was forced to kill her, brought back the shoes as a remembrance. Before I came over here, he took me aside and said, never get involved emotionally with oriental women, because there’s only two ways to deal with them. Do you know what they are?

Payne: Money or a knife.

Clarke: How do you know?

Payne: It’s the fifth time you’ve told me your grandfather’s story.

Clarke: Oh, Christ… Why didn’t you tell me? Sorry.

Payne: Hey, buddy, you broke my glass.

Sailor: Me? You should talk to her about that.

Girl dancer: Not me.

Payne: You should apologize.

Sailor: I’m sorry.

Clarke: Don’t move… Nobody move… stop it. That’s an order…

Girl dancer: It’s not my fault.

Clarke: Get up!

Payne: Clarke, don“t. It’s not her fault.

Clarke: This is the Concession. We have our rules.

[Outside Payne’s residence.]

Payne: I was gonna win, if you hadn’t come along, no, if she hadn“t come along, I was going to beat him black and blue and red…

Clarke: If the chair hadn’t gotten in the way.

Payne: Yes, it was a very big chair.

Clarke: You are drunk, go home.

Payne: I’m home. You’re drunk.

Clarke: No, you are drunk.

Payne: You are drunk.

Clarke: Well, we’ll settle this tomorrow. Good night.

Payne: Good night, you are drunk.

[Payne falls onto the ground.]

Clarke: Very funny. Payne… Payne, I’m coming. Payne… I’m coming. Oh, good lord. Are you all right? Come on Payne. Get up! Oh, dear, this isn“t fair, Payne. Come on, Payne.
[Qiu Qiu shows up in front of the doorway.]You’re here to see him, are you? Hello, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Colonel Clarke.

Qiu Qiu: Glad to meet you.

Clarke: I’m his best friend.

Qiu Qiu: Really?

Clarke: It’s nice to meet you. Well, I’ll leave him in your more than capable hands. Good night.

Qiu Qiu: Good night.

Clarke: Good night, you lucky dog.

[Inside the house, Qiu Qiu is giving Payne some medical treatment.]

Payne: If I didn’t know you better, I think you a professional nurse. Where did you learn all this?

Qiu Qiu: In the Missionary School, where I grew up.

Payne: Is that where you learned your English?

Qiu Qiu: Yes.

Payne: Him too?

Qiu Qiu: Who?

Payne: Your husband.

Qiu Qiu: Jin studied abroad. He was a teacher before joining the Communist.

Payne: Are you in love with him? I mean a real love.

Qiu Qiu: Why are you asking me that?

Payne: Because I feel I am going through this unusual love experience. It’s like this dream. Please forgive me for asking, but I need to know, is there any place for me in this story?

Qiu Qiu: Yes, there is a place.

Payne: Where? Where is my place? Please tell me.

Qiu Qiu: As a doctor.

Payne: Are you turning me away?

[Payne turns on the radio, they dance. In the blue melody of the music, looking at the man in front of her, Qiu Qiu tells her story.]

Payne: Would you like a dance?

Qiu Qiu: I am sorry. Do you want to hear my story?

[Jin as a high ranking Communist leader in the underground, he suffers from seizures caused by head wounds. Overtime Qiu Qiu falls in love with him. She’s willing to sacrifice everything in order to win his true love. In his periodic delusions he believes Qiu Qiu is his long lost wife, who was killed protecting him from the Guomingdang. Every time Qiu Qiu reads the book to calm him down.]

Qiu Qiu: He thought of me as his wife. That’s why I’ve been looking for you. We need to make him healthy again. Then I can ask him to tell me the truth, whether he loves me or not.



Chapter Five: New Year’s Eve Party

[Everyone is enjoying themselves at a New Year’s Eve Party at the hospital. Payne gets ready to give Jin an X-ray and arranges for an operation. Nobody knows, except Qiu Qiu.]

Chairman: Mr. Wang, welcome to this hospital and thank you for your donation last year. I’m so happy that your wife and your family could be here with us this evening.

Payne: Everything is ready. Where is Jin?

Qiu Qiu: In the car.

Payne: I will go to the X-ray room first, you bring him later.

Qiu Qiu: Dr. Payne…

Payne: Please, call me Robert!

Chairman: Ah, Robert, what are you doing out here? Why aren’t you inside at dance. Oh, such a beautiful woman, are you going to introduce her? What are you still mad of me? Everything will be fine in the new year. Miss, let me invite you in for a dance? Accepting responsibility is the most important quality in a man’s character. I’ve always said, a man does not mature until he has fallen in love with a woman. You continue to surprise me. Here you found a beautiful woman, and she’s Chinese. Love is a very serious thing. I guarantee it , Miss, you will be happy with him.

Qiu Qiu: Mr. Chairman, would you like to dance?

Chairman: I would be delighted.

[Payne is now in the X-ray room with Jin.]

Payne: Jin, tell me, when you have these attacks, do you hallucinate?

Jin: Yes, it’s like a dream. I’m in another world. I can’t tell whether it’s heaven or hell. Strange, sometimes I want to stay in this dream.

Payne: Here is the shrapnel, it“s lodged in your skull. This is what’s causing the convulsions. It affects the function of your brain bringing on attacks similar to an epileptic fir. To be honest, Jin, it’s amazing that you“re still alive.

Jin: Do I still have a hope?

Payne: Take out the Shrapnel. That“s the only way. Because of its position, the operation is delicate and has certain risks.

Jin: You mean I could die?

Payne: No, it’s unlikely you’ll die. But it could damage your brain tissue or you could be paralyzed or…

Jin: Or what?

Payne: Or it’ll have permanent brain damage and you could lose your mental capacity.

Jin: No, I don“t want that.

Payne: You can’t be negative. I am a doctor. This is what I do. Trust me.

Jin: How much time do I have?

Payne: Every time you have an attack, you face death. You must have the operation.

Jin: If I can“t live with dignity, I would rather die.

Payne: That’s insane.

Jin: No, it’s not. There is an old Chinese saying “Shi Si Ru Gui”, death is like returning home.

[Jin leaves the office. Outside in the hall people are all celebrating the coming of the New Years.]

M.C.: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four three, two, one!

[In the midst of the happy crowd, Payne tells Qiu Qiu Jin’s decision. Qiu Qiu bitterly shakes her head and runs out of the hall. Just then Payne sees Hao Ming who seems to appear but from nowhere. The dancing hall is full of agents.]

Hao Ming: Remember that woman you told me about? She really is beautiful. Dr. Payne, can you tell you now who she is?

Payne: I’m not interested in your profession… If you want to make an appointment…

Hao Ming: I’ll tell who she is. She ‘s my daughter. The one I lost nine years ago.

Payne: That’s ridiculous. You must be mistaken. You’re thinking of somebody else.

Hao Ming: You don’t understand a father’s feeling. I lost my wife, I lost my child, I lost my family. For nine years, I’ve thought of her every day. I didn’t search for her because my only wish was that she was alive and happy. When I found this, I knew my wish had not come true.

Payne: If you’re so sure it’s her, why didn’t you stop her or arrest her.

Hao Ming: We all know there’s a man behind her, a very big Communist. There’s an old Chinese saying.” Fand Chang Xian Dao Ye.” Put out a long line, catch a big fish.

Payne: You are using your daughter as bait?

Hao Ming: Do I have a choice? Does she have a choice? From the moment I fired the gun at my comrades, from the night my daughter run away, we made our choices. Maybe I have betrayed God. It’s not my fault.

[Hao Ming takes Payne outside. In the heavy rain, a car is surrounded by agents. Inside Qiu Qiu is pointing a gun at Clarke’s head, with Jin sitting at the back.]

Clarke: Hao Ming, Hao Ming!

Policeman: Mr. Hao Ming, Clarke has been kidnapped.

Clarke: Tell your men to move off, move them back. Get them out of here! Don“t shoot! For Christ sake, don’t shoot! This isn’t going to prove anything, Hao Ming.

Payne: Hao Ming, what are you doing?

[Hao Ming grabs Payne, waving a gun at him.]

Clarke: Ah… Don“t shoot! For Christ sake, don’t shoot! This isn’t going to prove anything, Hao Ming.

Hao Ming: You see, this is a smart face, blue eyes, brown hair… Say you love her! Say it! Say it!

Payne: I love you!

Hao Ming: Louder! Say it! Say it! Say it!

Clarke: Hao Ming, don’t shoot. Don“t be stupid. Put out that gun. That an order!

Jin: [Steps out of the car.] Let him go. You dare not shoot. [Into the car] Let’s go, Clarke.

Payne: I love you! I love you! I love you!

[Watching the car fading away in the rainy darkness, Payne feels his sense of self-respect also dying away. He knows shi is the girl he’s always been waiting for. But reality tells him he’s just a little boy escaping from the beautiful vision of a dream. He can’t get what he wants, he loses that dream.]

Payne: (Off-screen Voice): Most everyone has their own sad story. My friends told me that I should just forget the whole thing, but I could not. Two days later,, Clarke was released by the Communists and returned to his office, boasting about how brave he had been. In the days that followed I lost my job and my friends abandoned me. I felt totally isolated in this huge, for off city, only hoping that she would appear again.


Chapter Six: Qiu Qiu Shoot Her Father

[One day Payne reads in the newspaper that Qiu Qiu was arrested near the Shanghai Hotel. He quickly goes to the bar to fine Clarke.]

Dancer: Go, go, don’t move. Go…

Payne: Clarke, I’ve been looking all over for you. Let’s go for a drink at the club, just you and I. We hadn’t been there for a while.

Clarke: I don’t have time. I am very busy now.

Payne: I really need to talk to you. Please, just for a while.

Clarke: No, I didn’t arrest her. I heard Hao Ming arrested her near some drug store. Not really clear how he caught her.

Payne: How is she now?

Clarke: Didn’t you see the newspaper? You know what happened. She was with Hao Ming, can you believe it. I didn’t believe at first. Do you think all this was done just for you? Look, it’s a very moving story about the reunion of a father and daughter. What do you think the bloody Communists are going to do when they see it?

Payne: What are you talking about?

Clarke: Jin is finished. His organization will not trust him ever again. They’ll probably get rid of him. That’s Hao Ming’s plan. But he could still be a good father to Qiu Qiu in bargain.

Payne: No, he can’t…She’ll never accept Hao Ming as her father, she’ll never betray Jin.

Clarke: But what can she do? My God, man, Hao Ming himself used to be a Communist. Think about it, a tender young girl like that, in one hand she faces a knife, in the other, a rich tearful father. Look, it’s over. Go home, Robert. Go home to America…It’s time. Do you still want to see her?

Payne: Can I?

Clarke: Hao Ming is having a party tonight at the Shanghai Hotel. He’s invited all the elite in the city to celebrate his reunion with the daughter he lost nine years ago, social event of the year. That’s where she will be.

[Payne rushes towards the Shanghai Hotel. As he gets into the lobby, a loud gunshot echoes in the hall. Hao Ming is covered in blood. It’s Qiu Qiu who seizes a gun in the riotous crowd and shoots a bullet into the body of her own father.]


Chapter Seven: An Eagle Flying Across The Sky

[In the apartment, Payne buries himself in drinking. Qiu Qiu’s being arrested is such a heavy blow to him. He feels his soul is floating out of his body. Then somebody knocks at the door.]

Payne: I am dead. It’s only rent? After I died, you can have everything I own. Here, here, take whatever you want! I have a typewriter, some empty bottles, and a dead plant. Would you like that?

Landlady: Dr. Payne, it’s not about rent. There is someone looking for you.

Payne: What?

[Payne goes out of the room. He sees Jin standing at the corner of the stairs. Payne invites Jin into the room.]

Jin: My wife and I met in Paris. She studied music, and I studied literature. You could say she lead me to join the revolution. For a long time, I followed my convictions because I was following her. After she died I became a true, dedicated revolutionary. Five years ago, I was turned in by a traitor in Hankou. When the enemy came to get me, I happened to be out. My wife was at home alone. They forced her into the room and laid a trap for my return. She got free somehow but had only one way to save me—to jump out the window. It was a tall building and she was in the air for a long time. It was like something out of the Anthology of Russian Stories…

Payne: The sun rises, an eagle flies towards heaven.

Jin: That’s right… Remember I told you about my dreams when I fall sick… It’s so awful. It’s so beautiful… My wife comes home to me. That night at the safe house outside the city…

[Jin is sick again. It’s so serious that he couldn’t hear anything. His body temperature is falling continuously. In order to save Jin, Qiu Qiu takes her clothes off and warms Jin with her own body. Gradually they merge… When Jin wakes up and sees the message left by Qiu Qiu, he understands all of it. He decides to bury his dead wife in the bottom of his own heart and start life all over again.]

Jin: I set this fire for my wife. I wanted to bury her in my heart forever. Now, I want to start over again.

Payne: With Qiu Qiu? It’s impossible… No one can save her now.

Jin: I can save her. The enemy wants me, not her. Please go and tell your friend Clarke. We can negotiate. I think he’ll like the idea.

Payne: Jin, have you thought about this? Do you know the price you’ll pay?

Jin: It’s worth it.

[With the help of Payne, the concession police and Guomingdang ready an agreement to exchange Jin for Qiu Qiu. Once again in the rain, Jin meets Qiu Qiu who is now pregnant. It’s the last time that they’ll meet. Several months later in the hospital, Qiu Qiu is giving birth to her child. Payne keeps her company.]

Payne: Qiu Qiu, I’ve come to get you. We’re almost there, Keep breathing!

Nurse: Don’t move, don’t move. Hang on!

Payne: Hang on, Qiu Qiu, look at me. The sun rises, an eagle files towards heaven and suddenly stopping… almost as if it’s frozen in the blue shy…

[At the same time in an open field, Jin faces his executioners calmly. A gunshot echoes, he falls on his back to the ground. The chairs on his body fly open like an eagle across the sky… Then the cry of a baby pierces the darkness, declaring the birth of Jin and Qiu Qiu’s child.]



Chapter Eight: A Time To Remember

Payne (Off-screen Voice): Qiu Qiu died at child birth, and I adopted her daughter without hesitation. In 1937, China launched an all out war against the Japanese invasion. The child and I roamed inland, until the Japanese were defeated and we returned to Shanghai. In May 1949, the People’s Liberation Army took control of Shanghai, and soon liberated all of China. Throughout it all, we lived together as father and daughter. I had named her Pearl.

[On the street]

Payne (Off-screen Voice): I’m soaked in crimson red, and look upon these smiling faces. I start to understand Qiu Qiu and Jin’s choices. They dedicated their love to their ideals. Their spirit lives on in this victory. Suddenly I discover what is truly romantic, they have followed their passions into history. It is their loyalty to each other and to their cause that deserves to be remembered forever.

Clarke: Payne, let’s go! Let’s go, come on. Don’t do this to me, Payne. I can’t help you any more. You on your own, you know? Bloody hell!

[The new government of China finds the remains of Jin and Qiu Qiu. Payne takes their child Pearl to see it.]

Officer: Are you Mr. Payne?

Payne: Yes.

Officer: We’ve been waiting for you. With the help of the people’s government, we’ve checked the records and found the remains of Qiu Qiu. In accordance with your wishes, we have put their ashes together. Is there anything else you or the child need?

Payne: Nothing. I just brought her to see them again. Thank you. [To Pearl] Why don’t you go and see your mum and dad?

Pearl: Can I touch them?

[Pearl touches the ashes. A few minutes later they walk out of the hall.]

Pearl: Daddy?

Payne: What’s it, sweetie?

Pearl: I took something.

Payne: Oh, you did? What? It’s the shrapnel. You keep this.

Pearl: Why did they put them together?

Payne: It’s Chinese custom. They are a couple, they should stay together. It doesn’t matter whether they are alive or dead. They shouldn’t be separated.

[Robert Payne returned to America in 1950 and has been living in San Francisco. Pearl grew up in China. In 1990, she went to America to help her adopted father write his autobiography. The title of the book,” A Time To Remember.”]



Thanks for Pricilla for typing it out! Thank you!