Beneath the Same Swallowtail Ridge

Together Beneath the Swallowtail Ridge is a contemporary novel that spans the Taiwan Strait and brings memories together. Chen Yu'an, a young Taiwanese architect, finds a yellowed journal among his grandfather's belongings. It leads him to Quanzhou, Fujian, in search of Qiming Hall, an old red-brick house preserved in his family's memories. Meanwhile, Lin Sirong, a mainland specialist in historic architecture restoration, is campaigning to save the century-old house from imminent demolition. The two meet because of the house. Their relationship begins with misunderstandings and conflict, but they gradually come to understand each other's devotion to family memories and cultural heritage.

As they investigate the house's history together, they unexpectedly discover a guestbook from 1937, during the Battle of Shanghai. It records wartime memories of teachers and students from both sides of the strait who stopped there briefly during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. During those years of fire and conflict, the old house served as a temporary station for wounded soldiers, preserving a shared history buried by time. As Chen Yu'an and Lin Sirong restore the building, they also piece together the story of their ancestors' separation and an unfulfilled promise to meet again.

The novel builds its narrative tension around the competing ideas of restoring old buildings to their original state and finding new ways to put them to use. With the old house and its guestbook as clues, it weaves together the shared history and cultural ties of both sides of the strait. Faced with the real threat of commercial development, the pair join forces to fight for the house. In the end, they transform it into a cultural space that connects the feelings and memories of people on both sides, fulfilling a promise made beneath the red-brick swallowtail roof eighty years after they were separated.

Blending family stories, memories of the War of Resistance, intangible cultural heritage preservation, and cross-strait bonds, the novel follows a generation's growth and shared understanding as they restore history and search for their roots. It reflects the spirit of the times: closer development across the Taiwan Strait and the preservation of China's outstanding traditional culture.