"Three Family Lanes" is set in Guangzhou during the "Great Revolution". Through the changes, conflicts and struggles of the three families of Zhou, Chen and He, as well as the intricate relationships between relatives and friends, it shows the rise and fall of various political forces and the changes in the spiritual worlds of different classes and characters. "Hard Struggle" writes about the lives of farmers and farm workers in Zhennan Village on the outskirts of Guangzhou after the failure of the "Great Revolution". The "May 4th" movement, the "May 30th" tragedy, the provincial and port strikes, the Zhongshan ship incident, the Northern Expedition, etc. Did not become the central plot, but only served as the background, forming a specific era atmosphere in the novel.
