The Black Cannon Incident

Infobox Chinese Film
name = The Black Cannon Incident


image_size =
caption =
director = Huang Jianxin
producer = Wu Tianming
writer = Li Wei
starring = Liu Zifeng
Gerhard Olschewski
Yang Yazhou
Gao Ming
music =
cinematography = Wang Xinsheng
editing =
distributor =
released = 1985
runtime = 94 min.
language = Mandarin
budget =
website =
amg_id = 1:138968
imdb_id = 0091190
jianti = 黑炮事件
fanti = 黑炮事件
pinyin = Hēi Pào Shìjiàn

"The Black Cannon Incident" (zh-stp|s=黑炮事件|t=黑炮事件|p=Hēi Pào Shìjiàn) is a 1985 Chinese comedy film presented by Xi'an Film Studio and directed by Huang Jianxin. It stars Gao Ming, Gerhard Olschewski, and Liu Zifeng.

Plot

Zhao Shuxin (Liu Zifeng) is a capable engineer and German interpreter in a mining company. He is a single and has a unusual habit of playing Chinese chess alone. The chess board and pieces are his intimate friends and have accompanied him for years. One day, when Zhao returns from a business trip, he finds one of the chess pieces, the black cannon, is missing. Despite the heavy rain, he immediately hurries to the postal office and sends a telegram to the hotel, which reads, "Missing black cannon. 301. Searching. Zhao.", requesting the hotel's help to search for the piece in Room 301. Unexpectedly, this ambiguous telegram arouses vigilance of the authorities and the police swiftly set up a case to investigate the so-called "Black Cannon Incident". Zhao is removed from his post and sent somewhere else. The interpreter post is taken over by Feng Liangcai (Yang Yazhou), a tourism interpreter who has little knowledge of engineering construction. Now, a German specialist, Hans Schmidt (Gerhard Olschewski) arrives for the second time for the WD project. To his disappointment, his former partner, Zhao, has been replaced. The new interpreter frequently makes mistakes. Frustrated, Hans insists that Zhao return. He even meets Zhao personally and asks for the resumption of their cooperation, which pushes Zhao into a quandary. The company manager, Li Renzhong (Gao Ming), visits Zhao and accidentally finds the chess set with the missing black cannon. Thus the puzzle seems resolved. In a Party committee meeting, Li suggest Zhao resume his post as interpreter. However, Zhou Yuzhen, the Party chief insists no further actions will be taken until the incident is completely straightened out. At the moment, the pitiful Zhao still knows nothing about the case. The only thing he can do now is to inspect the progress of the project stealthily at midnight with a flashlight and to garner information during a brief meeting with Hans. Then the new interpreter, Feng, mistakenly translates "bearing" into "bracket", leading to serious damage to the parts during a test run, as well as severe financial loss. Before long, the postal office brings a package to Zhao, and Zhou and others covertly open it, only to find a Black Cannon chess piece. Everything is clear, and Zhou grumbles that Zhao shouldn't have sent such a telegram. Apparently puzzled, Zhao asks, "Why can't I send a telegram of my own?"

External links

*imdb title|id=0091190|title=The Black Cannon Incident
*amg title|id=1:138968|title=The Black Cannon Incident
* [http://www.dianying.com/en/title/hps1985 "The Black Cannon Incident"] at the Chinese Movie Database