China Synopsis
“1500 slaves. 353,260,000 royal subjects. Warlords. Concubines. And 2 wives. He was the loneliest boy in the world.”
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
Audience Engagement
1,495 audience reviews — more than 95% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 88th percentile among China films.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with The Last Emperor. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Drama + History in China
53 China titles in our catalog blend the Drama and History genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding The Last Emperor itself).
The 1986–1988 China Window
The Last Emperor holds position #5 of 11 China films in the 1986–1988 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1980s China Landscape
1987 was the decade’s peak output year for China — 6 titles released, including The Last Emperor. Bars below show how the 1980s stacked up year by year (23 total).
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 43m runtime, production spent $141K per minute on screen and earned $270K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 5 other China films in 1987.
The 28th China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on The Last Emperor, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- dynasty · 4
- autobiography · 4
- becoming an adult · 3
- manchuria · 3
- war on drugs · 2
- reeducation camp · 1
- dowager · 1
- decadence · 1
- arranged marriage · 27
- teacher · 26
- buddhism · 22
- suicide attempt · 22
- 1920s · 18
- emperor · 16
- revolution · 14
- experiment · 13
- beijing · 13
- war crimes · 10
- communism · 8
- opium · 7
- isolation · 6
- drug addiction · 6
- coup d'etat · 6
- china · 127
- china · 127
- based on true story · 98
- biography · 75
- world war ii · 55
- suicide · 51
- 1940s · 35
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #148 of 946 China films indexed here (84th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.9 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Drama productions specifically: #93 of 547 (top 17%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | China, France, Italy, United Kingdom |
| Original Language | En |
| Spoken Languages | Chichewa; Nyanja, Mandarin, English, Japanese |
| Production Companies | Hemdale Film Corporation, Soprofilms, TAO Film, Yanco, Columbia Pictures |
| Runtime | 2h 43m |
| Release Date | October 4, 1987 |
| IMDb | tt0093389 |