COLLECTION · Series · 1996

第一世家

Original title

The Lai family was once a prominent local clan. When the American air raids came, the patriarch, Lai Shui-quan, risked his life to save the hereditary plaque inscribed "First Family of the Age," bestowed by Liu Ming-chuan. This alone reveals his deep-rooted feudal traditionalism and his determination to restore the family's prestige—a mindset that shaped him and, in turn, the marriages and lives of his three children... In the old feudal manner, Shui-quan, besides marrying a wealthy man's daughter, kept a mistress named Chun-hua, a woman of tavern origins. When his illegitimate daughter Hsiu-hsiu needed to be formally acknowledged into the clan in order to enroll in school, it stirred up a tremendous uproar, and Shui-quan never knew peace again. The eldest son, Wu-nan, was conservative and timid, a strict follower of convention. In both marriage and career, he obeyed his parents without question. The second son, Wu-hsiung, was clever and adaptable, bold in breaking new ground. His life was full of ups and downs, yet his devotion to Yeh Lin never wavered. And this mainlander daughter-in-law truly supported her husband and raised their children, enduring hardship and shouldering burdens, dissolving the family's provincial tensions. The third daughter, Hsiu-ying, was open-hearted and decisive. For love, she defied tradition and broke through every barrier, eloping with a mainlander colleague. After much hard struggle, she finally helped her husband succeed. The story unfolds wave upon wave, laying bare the conflicts and disputes faced by this "First Family," yet also explaining with wit and humor the truths that "love endures and barriers dissolve" and "harmony in the family brings prosperity in all things." It also lets the audience invisibly experience this land's fifty years of growth and the historical trajectory of ethnic integration...