Alyosha and Tang = same character?

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hmmm that might be the case,but i dun think there is anything that specifically says that Bukong is Tang (Jiang Wen). they are probably just linked by the fact that Tang came down and lived in the village, and that the mother and the Tang's wife (Kong Wei) met in the desert, each making their own choice (towards the end of the road, or continue the endless road in the desert).

To me, there probably not have much plot interpretations. Jiang Wen is probably taking a shot on the absurdity of the cultural revolution.

Try reading the baidu post comments on the movie if you understand chinese.

Don't thonk so: Alyosha is actually identified as Russian. He's dead, but his lover won't accept it. We don't know that old Tang actually hit the boy: he isn't avery good shot, it's birdshot, and it's long-range.

I actually came to the same conclusion at first as catabatic-1. However, then I remembered two key scenes, where Tang would have known that Jaycee Chan's character was his son by the time Tang blasted him. The first one is when Tang discovers the hut in the woods while hunting pheasants. He sees Yun Zhou caharacter's aka "the mother's" picture on the wall and if Tang had had an affair with her in the past I think his reaction would have been different. It doesn't seem like he recognises "the mother" in the picture at all. Second one is when Tang catches his wife and Jaycee Chan's character doing it in the hut. Jaycee Chan's character distinctively says "call me Alyosha", a name that would be quite familiar with Tang if he was his father. Putting these two scenes together, there would be no doubt that Tang would have known that he was the father. Despite that he was oblivious about Jaycee Chan character's origins and shot him.