Penang to continue his fundraising. He seeks support from opium cartel boss Xu Boheng. Xu's daughter Xu Dan Rong, is engaged to schoolteacher Luo Zhaoling. A covert Qing agent, Luo has been ordered to assassinate Sun, but his rebellious fiancée Xu Dan Rong becomes attracted to Sun's cause. Meanwhile, Sun's long-time companion Chen Cuifen joins him in Penang. Sun learns that his mother has died in China, but cannot pay for her funeral. Sun's friends and followers come to his assistance. Mr. Grant, a British colonial officer pressures Xu to smuggle opium to China and arrange a marriage between Xu Dan Rong and his son Master Grant. Sun intervenes to save Xu and his daughter, and out of gratitude Xu arranges for Sun to speak to prominent members of Penang community. Sun now convenes a secret meeting among the Southeast Asian
Tongmenghui
The Tongmenghui of China (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, ) was a secret society and underground resistance movement ...
members to plan the
Second Guangzhou Uprising
The Second Guangzhou (Canton) Uprising, known in Chinese as the Yellow Flower Mound Uprising or the Guangzhou Xinhai Uprising, was a failed uprising took place in China led by Huang Xing and his fellow revolutionaries against the Qing dynasty i ...
.
Releases
The film premiere at the
Great Hall of the People in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
on 27 June 2007 was attended by both Chinese and Malaysian government leaders and media. The film was classified an ‘Important Historical Topic Movie’ by the PRC's
State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) -- the first such filmed 100% outside of China and based on a historical event that took place outside of China. A charity premier was held in
Penang on 17 September 2007 in aid of the new
Wawasan Open University
Wawasan Open University, abbreviated as WOU, is a private university located in Penang, Malaysia that provides working adults with access to higher education via open distance learning (ODL).
It was established in 2006 and enrolled its fir ...
(WOU) Chancellor's scholarship fund.
“Road To Dawn” in Japanese title 「孫文-100年先を見た男-」has recently gained attention in Japan, where starting from 5 September 2008 it screened for about seven months. In Tokyo alone, it screened for almost two months.
In 2016, the
Sun Yat Sen Museum Penang has relaunched the DVD for the Malaysian market.
Awards and nominations
10th
China Movie Channel Media Awards China Movie Channel Media Awards (电影频道传媒大奖) are presented at each Shanghai International Film Festival
The Shanghai International Film Festival (, French: ''Festival international du film de Shanghai''), abbreviated SIFF, is on ...
* Most Popular Actor Awards
Winston Chao
Winston Chao Wen-hsuan (born 9 June 1960) is a Taiwanese actor. He came to international attention for his performance in the 1993 film ''The Wedding Banquet'' and ''Kabali''. He is also known for his roles in '' Red Rose White Rose'' and ''Eat ...
* Most Promising Newcomer Awards (Wu Yue)
12th
Huabiao Awards
China Huabiao Film Awards (), also simply known as Huabiao Awards, is an annual awards ceremony for Chinese cinema. Named after the decorative Chinese winged columns ('' huabiaos''), The Huabiao Awards were first instituted in 1957 as the Ministr ...
* Most Outstanding Newcomer for Scriptwriting (Maezi)
2007
Chinese American Film Festival
Chinese American Film Festival (CAFF) is an American film festival held every November since 2006 in California (with events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, previously also in San Diego).
History
In 2005, the Chinese American Film Festival w ...
* Golden Angel Award
2007 Guangzhou University Students Film Festival
* Best Actor Award
Winston Chao
Winston Chao Wen-hsuan (born 9 June 1960) is a Taiwanese actor. He came to international attention for his performance in the 1993 film ''The Wedding Banquet'' and ''Kabali''. He is also known for his roles in '' Red Rose White Rose'' and ''Eat ...
2009 China Centre Publicity Board Awards for "5 in 1 Project Outstanding Civilized Movie" category “"五个一工程“精神文明奖优秀电影”
Excellent Quality Movie
The film was nominated for
Huabiao Awards
China Huabiao Film Awards (), also simply known as Huabiao Awards, is an annual awards ceremony for Chinese cinema. Named after the decorative Chinese winged columns ('' huabiaos''), The Huabiao Awards were first instituted in 1957 as the Ministr ...
Most Outstanding Movie and Best Actress (Wu Yue), China Golden Rooster Best Music (Pan Guoxing, Su Junjie),
Golden Horse Best Image Design (Doris Song).
The movie was screened at the 2007 Hawaii International Film Festival, 2008 Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival, 2008 Cannes Film Festival. It is also the closing ceremony movie for Singapore International Film Festival.
Production
''Road to Dawn'' was billed as a
Shenzen Media Group,
Shenzen Film Studio,
Pearl River Film Company presentation of a Shenzen Assn. for Intl. Cultural Exchanges, Shenzen Media Group production.
[
Road To Dawn main investor company is Malaysian's Ribuan Hijau Sdn. Bhd., which owned 4 Malaysian Chinese press companies.
''Road To Dawn'' was the first China-produced movie filmed entirely in ]Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. It was filmed entirely on location at the Sun Yat-sen Museum Penang in August and September 2006. Other international movies have used Penang a substitute location -- '' Indochine'' (1992),'' Paradise Road'' (1997), '' Anna and The King'' (1999), '' The Touch'' (2002), and ''Lust, Caution
''Lust, Caution'' () is a 2007 erotic period espionage mystery romance film directed by Ang Lee, based on the 1979 novella by Eileen Chang. ''Lust, Caution'' is set in Hong Kong in 1938 and in Shanghai in 1942, when the city was occupied by ...
'' (2007). However, ''Road To Dawn'' is the first international movie set in Penang.
''Road To Dawn'' fully exploits the multicultural
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
setting of Penang, showing cultural diversity in ethnic communities, costumes, houses of worship and architectural heritage. Angelica Lee
Lee Sinje (; born 23 January 1976) is a Malaysian film actress and pop singer. She started her career in singing and later moved on to acting in Taiwan and Hong Kong and Malaysia. Lee starred in '' The Eye'', the hit Asian horror film by the ...
plays a young woman from the Straits Chinese
The Peranakans () are an ethnic group defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of Southern Chinese settlers to maritime Southeast Asia, known as Nanyang (), namely the British Colonial ruled ports in the Malay Peninsula, t ...
(also called Baba Nyonya or peranakan
The Peranakans () are an ethnic group defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of Southern Chinese settlers to maritime Southeast Asia, known as Nanyang (), namely the British Colonial ruled ports in the Malay Peninsula, ...
) minority community.
In ''Road To Dawn'', Winston Chao
Winston Chao Wen-hsuan (born 9 June 1960) is a Taiwanese actor. He came to international attention for his performance in the 1993 film ''The Wedding Banquet'' and ''Kabali''. He is also known for his roles in '' Red Rose White Rose'' and ''Eat ...
plays Sun Yat Sen for the second time - which revolves around a young Sun Yat Sen in Penang. The first was in the 1997 movie, ''The Soong Sisters
The Soong sisters () were Soong Ai-ling, Soong Ching-ling, and Soong Mei-ling, three Shanghainese (of Hakka descent) Christian Chinese women who were, along with their husbands, amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20 ...
'' in which he played the older Sun Yat Sen from the time of the Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a ...
up to his death.
History and dramatic license
Sun Yat Sen lived in Penang between July and December 1910. He was joined by his first wife, his second wife, his two daughters and his brother Sun Mei. For the sake of a romantic storyline, the movie only shows Sun and his second wife Chen Cuifen.
The fictional character of Xu Dang Rong is loosely based on the real life character of Chen Bijun, a young woman revolutionary who became the wife of Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...
, a close associate of Sun Yat Sen.
The fictional character of Luo Zhaoling is loosely based on Luo Zhonghuo, a Penang-trained teacher and poet (though he was never a Qing agent), who became one of the 72 martyrs of the Second Guangzhou Uprising
The Second Guangzhou (Canton) Uprising, known in Chinese as the Yellow Flower Mound Uprising or the Guangzhou Xinhai Uprising, was a failed uprising took place in China led by Huang Xing and his fellow revolutionaries against the Qing dynasty i ...
.[Huanghua Gang Commemorative Park http://www.72martyrs.com.cn ]
The movie features a reenactment of the secret meeting, known as the 1910 Penang Conference. The second part of the conference, held on November 14, 1910 at 120 Armenian Street, was shot on location in the historic house which is now the Sun Yat Sen Museum Penang.
References
External links
''《夜.明》''
Road To Dawn Chinese language official site
Road To Dawn Japan Official site
*{{IMDb title, id=1071355, title=Road to Dawn
''Road to Dawn''
at www.chinahistoryforum.com
''Road to Dawn''
Yahoo Movies (Singapore)
''THE MOVIE: Road To Dawn''
Sun Yat-sen Museum Penang Official Website
2007 films
2000s historical drama films
Chinese historical drama films
History of China on film
Films set in 20th-century Qing dynasty
Films set in 1910
2007 drama films
2000s Mandarin-language films
Cultural depictions of Sun Yat-sen