Su yuan faces many difficulties in China. One of the difficulties she faced was the war in China. The Japanese were invading her country where she had lived since she was a child. This causes her husband and her to leave China quickly "with one stiff leather trunk filled only with fancy silk dresses." They had only enough time to pack a few necessary items as the Japanese were fast approaching. She had to leave behind most of her things. Su yuan survived, resisted and persisted on as the last material to connect her with the former life was in the trunk.

Furthermore, she faced the difficulty of having to relocate to Kweilin with her two babies as her husband felt that they would be safer in Kweilin but it was not the case. The Japanese were winning the war. The droppings of the bombs were very near...