This is a story that spans half a century in the south of the Yangtze River, from the first whistle of the factory in the late Qing Dynasty to the return of Jiang Chao on the eve of liberation. Gu Ruoying, who was born in a family of silk merchants in Suzhou, saw the workers' fingers and the edges of the times in the roar of steam and silk threads; Shen Yicheng, who was born in poverty, worked as a porter and apprentice as a newspaper writer, pursuing the truth and dignity between paper and ink; the soldier Chen Chuanfeng changed his military uniform and uniform in troubled times, considering the balance between conscience and survival; factory girl Lin Meiyu, brothel piano master Li Suyun and other fates parallel and intertwined. They moved between Shanghai and Suzhou: strikes, gunfire, love and betrayal, cooperation and resistance, are all the iron thorns in the times. Silk represents warmth and prosperity in the past; iron represents rails, gun barrels and printing presses. There is no fantasy in history, only choices and costs. Each chapter is a section of the rapids and twists of the river, pushing the characters to an invisible turning point of fate.
