Twenty-Four Love Letters from Red Sun Pavilion

The long-form local humanistic novel "Twenty-Four Love Letters from the Red Sun Pavilion" is based on the Red Sun Porridge Pavilion that has been a charity in Huagai Mountain, Wenzhou for decades. The two-line narrative connects the ties between the two generations with their hometown, the past overseas and the intangible inheritance of Ouyue. In the 1990s, Chen Jianjun was deeply involved in tailoring and embroidery skills in Wenzhou. He wanted to set up a new clothing workshop in his hometown to lay a long-term foundation for his family to live a stable life. For this reason, he borrowed money and went to Prato, Italy to work and study. While working hard to repay foreign debts, he accumulated savings for starting a business. During the six years of being alone in a foreign land, he silently endured the heavy work on the assembly line, the pain of chronic fatigue, and the loneliness of wandering alone. The twenty-three letters he sent home only reported safety, and never talked about his own pain. In 1995, his daughter was accidentally lost. This separation completely shattered all his life expectations, leaving him with only lingering guilt for the rest of his life. Until his death in a foreign land, he hid a last letter that he never sent, writing about his regrets and worries for half his life. At home, his wife Fang Suxin supported her life by herself. She stayed at the Red Sun Pavilion all year round to give porridge to people, and endured the long wait with bowls of hot porridge. Many years later, Ou embroidery designer Shen Zhiwei, Ou cuisine restaurant operator Chen Yu, and returning home documentary photographer Wen Yan met under the pavilion and accidentally discovered the camphor wood box where family letters were stored. Everyone learned about this cross-ocean past one by one, and Wen Yan used the unique birthmark and Fang Suxin to confirm the bloodline of mother and daughter. The three of them were deeply engaged in Ou embroidery, Ou vegetables, and wooden movable type intangible cultural heritage, and used their crafts to preserve the fireworks in the old city and the memories of overseas Chinese. Finally, they went to Prato together to take back Chen Jianjun's remains. The twenty-four letters across the sea show the integrity and trustworthiness of Wenzhou craftsmen, and also complete a family reunion that spans thirty years.