Synopsis of The Setting Sun Over the Xiang River
In the first year of the Xianfeng reign, the Taiping Rebellion began. Zeng Guofan, Liu Rong, and Guo Songtao put down their writing brushes and took up arms, forming the Xiang Army. Their children, Zeng Jize, Liu Zhilan, and Guo Yun, grew up together in Hetang, Xiangxiang.
Jize and Zhilan were childhood sweethearts. They pledged their love with half a brush made of mottled bamboo and vowed to marry when peace returned to the land. Guo Yun kept her love for Jize buried deep and quietly stepped aside.
Over fourteen years, war and national calamity repeatedly shattered their promises: the defeat at Jinggang, the burning of the Old Summer Palace, the Qixiang Coup, and the siege of Tianjing... The court grew suspicious of the Xiang Army, and Liu Rong delayed the wedding to avoid raising suspicions. Zhilan was forced to marry someone else, only for her husband to die in battle. Jize was forced to become engaged to Guo Yun, but his heart remained with Zhilan.
After accepting that “he has no place for me in his heart,” Guo Yun called off the engagement and went to Shanghai, where she became one of the first generation of educated women. Tianjing fell, and the Xiang Army was disbanded. At last, Jize and Zhilan were able to be together. In the fading light of the empire, a long-delayed wedding brought fourteen years of upheaval to a close.
History crushed their love, and they chose to become one another’s monument.
