The Sesame Oil Mill

The thread common to these three stories is Zhou Daxins characterization of the Nanyang people. The stories focus on the lives of three women in three different eras, each from a different background. For Love of a Silversmith is a tale of passion set nearly a century ago. A tragic sequence of events is triggered by a loveless marriage. The loveless match is also explored in The Sesame Oil Mill. Here Gao Ersao, owner of a successful oil mill, a childbride married of necessity, is forced to question the loveless marriage she has forced upon her daughter-in-low. Out of the Woods is set in the reform years, a transition period between old ideas and new. It takes the determination of Shas wife Xuner, to break away from their performing monkey troupe tradition and try a new way of life.