This is a story about paper and fire, conscience and survival. In Shanghai from 1931 to 1945, the lights and shadows of the concession were intertwined with the smoke and dust of the war, and the newspaper machines roared like a tide. Young reporter Lin Yusheng first came to Shanghai and witnessed street protests and factory suffering; Zhao Ling, a female worker from a lane, survived in dilapidation and dignity; the shadow of the Youth Gang and the hand of power pushed capitalist Xu Zhaowen to the gray shore; and Lan Yuying, a well-known girl and charity organizer, struggled to choose between morality and reality. Ten years of ups and downs, everyone either supports or abandons each other. Newspapers cannot change history, but they press the truth and tears into the typeface, turning them into paper ash and falling on a city. The story does not exaggerate the heroes, nor does it trivialize the evil. It just slowly tells how people were shaped in that era, and how they refused to be shaped.
