Black Cannon
(Hei Pao Shi Jian)

On his return from the provinces, engineer Zhao sends a telegram with a mysterious message: ‘Black cannon missing, investigate further’. The party committee doesn’t believe it and launches an investigation into the sender. Zhao turns out to be an ideal worker, but it is discovered that he is not a party member and, what’s worse, he even goes to church. His collaboration with a German engineer is viewed with suspicion, and a new partner is assigned abroad who barely speaks German. Technical and bureaucratic misunderstandings ensue. The ‘black cannon’ turns out to be a Chinese chess piece (the bishop) lost by Zhao during a game in his hotel room.