The Legend of Fankelou

The novel tells the story of Lin Zizhong, a young man from southern Fujian in the 1930s, who went to Nanyang with his fellow villagers to make a living in order to avoid banditry. He witnessed the tragedy of his grandmother waiting thirty years for his grandfather who was a foreigner from Southeast Asia only to receive his ashes, and vowed not to let his mother make the same mistake again. In Nanyang, Lin Zizhong started as a warehouse apprentice. He relied on the hard-working spirit of the Hokkien people to gain a foothold. He actively supported the anti-Japanese movement and donated money to support the Anti-Japanese War. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he took his father back to his hometown to reunite with his mother, only to find that his childhood sweetheart Yang Yuezhen was in a miserable situation and he married her out of morality. After Lin Zizhong returned to his hometown, he hired a Hui'an master to build a Chinese-Western fanzilou, which blended southern Fujian red brick houses with Western-style decoration. The walls were richly carved and hidden, and there were exotic gargoyles on the roof. There is a gun tower attached to the building, which has become a fortress against bandits. He does business with integrity. A Nanyang girl, Rosie, loves him deeply but discovers that he is already married and chooses to stay behind to raise his son and take care of his mother. Yang Yuezhen, like other Fanke aunts, placed her thoughts on Nanyin and guarded Fanzilou in the hope of returning home. Lin Zizhong always cared about his homeland. During the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War, he spent all his money to buy weapons to support the motherland. When his son Lin Yunzhao grew up, he inherited his father's business and invested in the construction of the motherland. Fanzilou has gone through the changes of the times. It was once requisitioned as a school and a grain depot. Although it was robbed, it still stands firm. After the reform and opening up, the third generation of the Lin family returned to Nanyang, with the passion to serve the country and help the economic development of Xiamen and the whole country. In his later years, Lin Zizhong built the "Wangzi Tower" for his mother and ran schools and roads in his hometown. Fanzilou has become a symbol of the perseverance, tolerance, openness, and patriotism of the Southern Fujianese people. It has witnessed the rise and fall of the family and the changes of the times, and symbolizes hope and inheritance.