Hometown, Regime and Blood
In the early years of the Republican Era, the leader of Sun Village—Village Head Sun—is strangled to death in a cave. Who is the killer? It’s a member of the rival Li family, who wants to wrest control from the Suns. The Li’s and the Suns are the two most influential families in Sun Village, and in their quest for domination, the Li’s have hired an assassin to kill Village Head Sun. In retaliation, the Sun family hires an assassin to murder members of the Li family. As the violent rivalry continues, many other innocent people also lose their lives.
Twenty years later, the Japanese army invades China. Some members of the Sun family defect to the Japanese, while others join up with the Communist army; meanwhile, the Li family fights for the Nationalists. The three armies converge on Sun Village during the harvest to seize its grain, and a battle ensues. In the end, scores of villagers are killed, and the wheat fields are bathed in blood.
Ten years later, the Communists have taken control of China and begin to institute land reform. Those who were once the poorest residents of Sun Village have now become its leaders, and in the process, many members of both the Sun and Li families are killed.
Sixteen years later, the Cultural Revolution breaks out. The village residents—the ones who have always been poor—fall into two opposing camps and engage in a violent struggle for control of Sun Village. Once again, many people die.
