Blood-sweating horse

Author: Gao Feng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: The Blood-Sweating Horse tells a moving story of the last imperial horse, a national treasure, leaving the palace and ultimately returning to nature, spanning 30 episodes. On November 5, 1924, Puyi fled the Forbidden City in haste, abandoning the "national treasure" imperial horse—the Blood-Sweating Horse. During the palace intrigues, court musician Zhao Xizhu, upon the dying request of the Minister of War Suowangyi, unexpectedly undertook the perilous journey to escort the horse back to Tianshan. Along this thousands-of-miles-long journey, Zhao Xizhu encountered a series of adversaries—thieves, arms dealers, Japanese invaders—on both sides of the law. Under the pen of screenwriter Gao Feng, the Blood-Sweating Horse becomes a measure of human virtue and vice. In this narrative system, the horse, with its noble character, tenacious vitality, and kindness toward humans, profoundly influences those around it, shaking their spirits. Through the journey alongside the horse, they truly come to understand that friendship, peace, kindness, and integrity are the ideal virtues of the human world. "We must strive to complete the filming of this drama with the vigor of a horse galloping a thousand miles in a day, aiming for short production time, high efficiency, and excellent quality, so that this 'blood-sweating horse' can meet the audience as soon as possible." In his directorial statement, Wu Ziniu, a representative figure of China's fifth generation of directors and whose works have won numerous domestic and international awards, used this sentence as the opening of his interview with the press: "In terms of creativity, I consider myself a relatively serious director with a sense of mission. Whether making films or TV dramas, I hope people can gain some enlightenment from them. These insights, to a large extent, are the strength of thought. I do not make works without thought. The Blood-Sweating Horse is a work rich in humanistic spirit and intellectual depth, so I am willing to make it and I will make it well." Wu Ziniu explained, "The Blood-Sweating Horse" is merely a symbol. Through the symbol of 'how a group of people go to rescue the blood-sweating horse,' the audience can understand what true human virtue is. Zhang Guangbei, the producer and lead actor of the drama, briefly introduced some background of the production before leaving Beijing: "The Blood-Sweating Horse is the third collaboration between Wu Ziniu and screenwriter Gao Feng after The Granary Under Heaven and The Sole Companion. In fact, they began working on this drama several years ago."