Hsu Ming

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

At the end of the 19th century, Shanghai is divided into several foreign concessions. In the British concession, a number of luxurious “flower houses” are reserved for the male elite of the city. Since Chinese dignitaries are not allowed to frequent brothels, these establishments are the only ones that these men can visit. They form a self-contained world, with its own rites, traditions and even its own language. The men don’t only visit the houses to frequent the courtesans but also to dine, smoke opium, play mahjong and relax. The women working there are known as the “flowers of Shanghai”.

Amid a rapidly changing cityscape, the lives of a disparate group of swindlers, hustlers, gangsters, and expats collide, with a naive French teenager and a sensitive young local who tries to protect her caught dangerously in the middle.

Two friends who haven't seen each other for thirteen years reunite. One is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour and the other has just started a new business.

Over the course of a few days, the paths of a group of young friends, lovers, and acquaintances in Taipei intersect, prompting them to arrive at realizations about their lives.

The young entrepreneur, Wong Shing-tak, has been married for ten year. He and his wife, Li Lin, lead a satisfying life together, until when some friends introduce Wong to a reporter called Yip Yuen. What starts out as purely a business relationship between the two turns into something much more than that. As Wong shows his trust towards Yip more and more, Li becomes increasingly. The marriage between Wong and Li begins to lose its grip...

In this drama, the harsh treatment of women in Chinese society is examined and subtly commented upon as it tells the tale of an impoverished woman living in Shanghai, circa 1910 who tries to support her brother and sister-in-law. A marriage to a wealthy man is arranged for her, and reluctantly she endures it, even though she does not love the man who is as cruel as he is wealthy. His mother is also brutally unkind to her. She then has a son, but her struggles are not over when her husband dies and only leaves her a modest inheritance. Her wretched life has made her bitter, and so she begins making her son suffer as she die; she also becomes addicted to opium.

Story of how two young people, who are initially enemies, become lovers in the end.

The story begins in the 1950's when a group of happy naive primary school students surround a young female teacher. These playmates from childhood are now going through an embarrassing age of adolescence. They get together once again at high school and return to their almamater paying a visit to their teacher. Their reunion goes wonderfully until one of them drowns. Their teacher's husband gets killed while attempting to save the students. In their early 20s, most of them graduated from college and subsequently start their first jobs. Some of them start their career early, some decide to study abroad, and others get married. As for their teacher, she devotes herself to "special education" following in her husband's footsteps. When they are reunited at the age of 40, each of them has experienced different trials of life. In search of good old memories of childhood, they gather together again to walk the corridors of their almamater.