Summary

“Love in the Marketplace” opens on Sansan showing Casablanca to students in her English language class. The students have no interest in the movie because Sansan has shown it “five or six times a semester” for ten years, ever since her lover chose not to marry her (92, 95). Sansan mother, whom Sansan has not seen since her father’s funeral, comes to the school to ask Sansan to visit her that evening. Her mother blames Sansan’s “failure at marriage” for the father’s suicide (94).

Sansan goes home early to snack on sunflower seeds and contemplate her mother’s message that Tu, her former lover, was divorced. She remembers her relationship with Tu, how they fell in love when they were some of the few students who continued to attend classes during the protests at Tiananmen Square. After the protests, Min, one...