In 1795, on the eve of Emperor Qianlong's abdication, Guangzhou.
A banned Western book that should not exist fell into the hands of Chen Yuan, a down-and-out scholar. The words in the book are like thunder: parliamentary elections, separation of powers, civil rights treaty... This is a world that the ancient empire has never imagined.
Chen Yuan did not choose to remain silent. He teamed up with Su Huaijin, an orphan from a book-engraving family, Lin Jingzhi, a comprador who traveled across China, Luo Wenqi, a secretary who was well versed in the rules of officialdom, and Fang Tiesheng, a dock coolie. The five of them formed a society in a small shabby room and named it "Lishe".
They think they are sowing ideas, but they don't know that they have stepped into the field of life and death.
From the underground engraving workshops in Guangzhou to the foreign presses in Nanyang, from the hidden caves in Wuzhou to the refugee tide in the Xiangjiang River, this group of "out of time" people used ink, blood, and lives to cut the first crack in the empire's strongest iron curtain.
Fang Tiesheng said: "We are the undercurrent."
Lin Jingzhi said: "Undercurrents will eventually merge into rivers."
And history stands in silence and stares from a high place——
Look at how these few sparks light up the long night;
See where this untraveled road leads in the end.
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