''Wan-chun's Three Loves'' (追尋; "Seek") is a 1964 Taiwanese novelette by

Chiung Yao Chiung Yao or Qiong Yao (; born 20 April 1938) is the pen name of Chen Che, a Taiwanese writer and producer who is often regarded as the most popular romance novelist in the Chinese-speaking world. Her novels have been adapted into more than 100 f ...

. It was translated to English in 1965 by Tommy Lee.

English translation

Plot

The story is set in

Beiping "Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...

(modern

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

), Republican era China. The protagonist Wan-chun is a

tongyangxi Tongyangxi (), also known as Shim-pua marriage in Min Nan dialects (; and in phonetic Hokkien transcription using Chinese characters: 新婦仔), was a tradition of arranged marriage dating back to pre-modern China, in which a family would adop ...

(child bride) who was married into the Chou family when she was 8. Her husband was supposed to be Chou Po-chien, 10 years her senior, but before she reached the age to consummate their marriage the brothers Chou Po-chien, Chou Chung-kang, and Chou Shu-hao all fell in love with her. Unable to choose, Wan-chun attempted suicide, and eventually all three brothers left home for good one by one just as wars and revolutions swept across China. Wan-chun would never have a real husband in her life.

Adaptations

*'' Four Loves'', a 1965 film *''

Wan-chun ''Wan-chun'' (or ''Wanjun'') is a 1990 Taiwanese television series produced by Ping Hsin-tao and his company Yi Ren Communications Co. () in conjunction with Chinese Television System, based on Chiung Yao's (Ping's wife) 1964 novellette '' Wan-ch ...

'', a 1990 TV series {{China-lit-stub Novels by Chiung Yao 1964 novels Taiwanese short stories Short stories set in Beijing