A young man is with a young girl. She kisses him in several places, and her lipstick remains on him. Then she begins to undress, but they stop.

A woman approaches her husband in his bed and asks if she can sleep with him. He says yes and they kiss passionately before they are interrupted by the man's other wife, who also lies down with them. He pulls the covers over all three of them and it is implied that they're about to have some sort of threesome before they are interrupted by something outside.

Moderate.

A young boy is being bathed and he rushes out of the tub not wearing only clothes. He is shown from the front and the back.

A woman continues to breastfeed a boy until he is about 10 years of age. There are two brief shots of her unclothed breast. When he grows up he has a sexual obsession with her so they send her away.

A man, his wife, and his concubine are all shown in the same bed. There is implied sexual activity, but all three people hide under bedsheets, so nothing is shown.

A woman is shown sucking the toes of another woman.

A man attempts suicide by slitting his wrists, we hear the cuts and as he submerges his hands in a water-filled sink, we see blood cloud the water. Later, blood-soaked bandages are shown on his wrists.

We hear fire outside a man's bedroom and see flames outside the window, the result of arson.

One man threatens another with a pistol.

A man is shot in the head from behind, and blood spurts from his head.

We hear a gunshot and see that a man has shot himself in the head; we see the bullet wound and a pool of blood form underneath.

There is archival footage of war atrocities including actual executions by gunfire as well as several closeups of decomposed bodies. There is footage of a hand, badly burned from radiation, being treated.

A mouse is thrown hard against a wall, splattering it and killing it. This was a real death of an animal on film; it was not simulated.

The word "fuck" is said once near the end of the film.

Opium is shown being produced, sold, and used. Two of the principle characters are shown smoking opium. One is shown at several stages of her descent into addiction.

Wine is consumed at various parties throughout the film.

The Emperor becomes mad when he finds out he is not allowed to leave The Forbidden City.

Puyi cuts his wrists, and the shot of his hands are seen in a full sink with his blood misting in the water. He survives the suicide later.

It is implied that a baby is killed by injection.