The Niutou River Runs Long, the Mountains Remain Young

# Synopsis of The Niutou River Runs Long, Guanshan Never Grows Old

Rooted in Guanshan and along the banks of the Niutou River in Zhangjiachuan, Gansu, this realist family saga follows six generations of the Ma family of Xiyao Village through more than a century of hardship and perseverance. The story begins amid the upheaval of the Tongzhi era's northwestern rebellions. In a time of chaos, farmer Ma Qingyuan holds fast to his kindness, saving an orphan and establishing a family tradition of benevolence. During the turmoil of the Republic of China, the short-statured Ma Erchichi defies society's scorn and spends his entire fortune to send his son to school, carving out a path for the family through education.

The next generation, Ma Rulin, endures hardship after hardship but clings to the belief that education can carry the family forward. His son, Ma Yicheng, rises step by step from steel mill worker, then changes course into education after a sudden turn of events, supporting the next generation. After the Reform and Opening Up, the three Ma brothers take three different paths: one puts down roots in Beijing and builds a thriving noodle business, one stays in his hometown to help develop it, and one gets into Peking University before venturing overseas. Each finds both gains and losses.

In the new era, the younger generation of the Ma family faces the divide between city and countryside and the clash between Chinese and Western cultures, coming to understand the roots of their homeland through estrangement and return. This is no tale of a miraculous comeback. Through the joys and sorrows of an ordinary family, it weaves together the changes of the times from the late Qing and the Republic of China to the present, portraying ordinary people supporting one another through hardship and expressing the quiet strength of a homeland that endures and a family tradition that lives on.