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.
The 1986–1988 China Window
11 China films released in this three-year window, ranked here by audience rating. The Last Emperor sits at position #5.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with The Last Emperor. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
The 1980s China Landscape
Catalog density by release year in the 1980s. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The Last Emperor premiered. 23 total titles in this decade from China.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 43m runtime, production spent $141K per minute on screen and earned $270K per minute back.
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 |