Yigong Wu

In this look back on the 1930s when Beijing ("northern capital") was spelled Peking, when Mao and the Kuomingtang were fighting, and Japanese forces were making inroads on Chinese soil, a Taiwanese-born woman remembers the difficult times. She recalls how children were sold off by their poverty-stricken parents, how students were killed by the police, and how people stole to survive. But against this background is a romantic love affair that flourishes in spite of the decade's many crises.

During the period of cultural revolution manipulated by the Gang of Four, Qiu Shi, a poet was sent by Li Yan and Liu Wenying secretly to a riverboat from Sichuan to Wuhan. All the way, different stories about different people take place. Qiu Shi met Juanzi and her father, Liu Wenying felt guilty. (imdb)