Signal Fires of Shanghai

Overview

During the Taiping Rebellion of the mid-19th century, anti-Qing (Manchu) Chinese forces led by Taiping commander Li Xiucheng march on Shanghai. Although the Western powers are officially neutral, the British consul in Shanghai sides with the Qing imperial government, and counter to his own government's policy he retains American adventurer Frederick Townsend Ward to raise a mercenary force of foreigners in Shanghai and oppose the Taipings. Ward's force is routed, with heavy casualties, but since many of the casualties are British, the British army soon is drawn in on the side of the Qings. The only support for the Chinese comes from Japanese in Shanghai and anti-imperialist demonstrations in Japan. A family drama plays out against this historical background. After a Chinese home is destroyed by careless British shelling, killing the father and crippling a daughter, the surviving son vows revenge but begins to see that his true friends may be the Japanese.

Cast

Tsumasaburō Bandō

Shinsaku Takasugi

Ryūnosuke Tsukigata

Saisuke Godai

Li Li-Hua

Wang Ying

Ryōsuke Kagawa

Heirokurô Numata

N/A

Ryōnosuke Azuma

Shakusaburô Ôtsuka

Tatsuya Ishiguro

Kuranosuke Nakamuta

N/A

Yoshimatsu Nakamura

Boartman

N/A

Xiucen Duan

Ah Yang - the waiter

Han Lan-Gen

Ah Lin - the waiter

Jiang Ming

Shen Changling

Kiang Sieu

Townsend Ward

Wang Danfeng

Shen Taohua