Director: Hou Yong

Starring: Wang Qianhua  /  Nursery  /  Dong Xuan  /  Pu Cunxin  /  Liu Peiqi

First aired: 2009

Plot Summary:

     In Pingdu, Shandong, the Song siblings—Tianhao, Tianxing, Tianyue, and their younger brother Huzi—witnessed pivotal moments in modern Chinese history: the September 18 Incident, the July 7 Incident, the Sino‑Japanese Cooperation, Japan’s surrender, and the liberation of Northeast China. Amid these complex historical circumstances, the Song siblings endured a harrowing journey to find their father. Yet upon reuniting with him, they were forced to witness his heroic martyrdom, as Japanese forces hunted them down and traitors betrayed them. Bereft of their father’s protection, the siblings were driven to wander the streets, begging for survival. In those tumultuous years of war, the family was torn apart: the elder sister and her two younger sisters found refuge in a Shandong courtyard in Dalian, while the youngest brother, Huzi, fell into a trap and went astray. The eldest sister and her two younger sisters received care from the local people within that Shandong courtyard, where they also met underground members of the Chinese Communist Party and received their first stirrings of revolutionary consciousness. Though love eluded her, the elder sister, consumed by grief, took on the solemn responsibility of raising and educating her younger sisters while searching for her lost brother. Her quest led her through arduous journeys—seeking relatives in Shenyang, pioneering new lands in Jilin, and fleeing across the Horqin Grassland—where she waged relentless resistance against Japanese invaders, Japanese colonizing settlers, and Kuomintang troops.