''Where the Wind Settles'' is a 2015 Taiwanese historical period film directed by Wang Toon. Spanning the years from 1949 to 2010, the film chronicles the lives of several mainland Chinese people who resettled in Taiwan near the end of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

Plot

During the last phase of the Huaihai Campaign in 1949, injured

Republic of China Army The Republic of China Army (ROCA), previously known as the Chinese Nationalist Army or Nationalist Revolutionary Army and unofficially as the Taiwanese Army, is the largest branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. An estimated 80% of the ...

captain Sheng Peng (

Tony Yang Tony Yang (; born 30 August 1982) is a Taiwanese actor who rose to prominence for his debut film role in ''Formula 17'' (2004), for which he won the Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer. He is also known for his roles in the Taiwanese box ...

) and subordinate soldiers Huang Te-shun (Li Xiaochuan) and Fan Chung-yueh (

George Hu George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

) retreat when it becomes clear the battle is irretrievably lost. As they trek across the countryside in northern

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, they encounter an abandoned boy named "Dog Two" (Zou Xuanqi), whom they carry along. They rejoin the nationalist troops and soon board a ship bound for

Keelung Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New Taipe ...

, Taiwan. On board they meet Chiu Hsiang ( Bea Hayden) and her intellectual family. In Taiwan, Sheng is discharged for his injury, while Huang and Fan desert the army to join him. The trio squeeze into a flat in a

military dependents' village A military dependents' village () is a community in Taiwan built in the late 1940s and the 1950s whose original purpose was to serve as provisional housing for soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines of the Republic of China Armed Forces, along ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, but

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...

soon arrive in the village to catch deserters like Huang and Fan, who face possible execution. Their crisis is solved when Sheng bribes government clerks to acquire National ID Cards. They begin to work, and the boy—now named Feng-hsien—starts school. Sheng re-encounters Chiu Hsiang, who offers to teach Feng-hsien piano lessons at her residence. Through the lessons, Sheng and Chiu Hsiang grow closer, as do Feng-hsien and Chiu Hsiang's baby sister Chiu Mei. Both Huang and Fan fancy Lin Ah-yu (

Ko Chia-yen Ko Chia-yen (; born 10 January 1985), also known as Alice Ko, is a Taiwanese actress. Career Ko's debut acting role was in the 2006 film ''Do Over'', by award-winning director Cheng Yu-chieh. Subsequently, she had starring roles in the film ...

), a Taiwanese woman who barely speaks

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. Despite their language barrier, Huang and Lin fall in love and get married. Fan, very unhappy, moves out to live in the mountains in the south. Years later, Huang dies in a fire trying to save a child and Fan comes back to mourn him. Sheng, having left his wife in mainland China for more than a decade, is by now secretly in love with Chiu Hsiang. Chiu Hsiang tells Sheng she will go to the United States to marry Chang Ming-jui, an old acquaintance. They exchange gifts, and when they sit down to talk on another occasion, Chiu Hsiang confesses her love for him. Their new-found happiness is abruptly terminated when Chiu's professor father is taken away by secret police for alleged dissidence. As Chang Ming-jui has many " connections" who may secure her father's safety, Chiu Hsiang has no choice but to leave Sheng. Sheng is heartbroken, and it hasn't escaped Lin Ah-yu's attention. Already widowed for a few years but still sharing the same hut (but not the same room) as he, Lin secretly loves Sheng. But when she confesses her love, he rejects her. She moves out the next day. In the 1970s, Feng-hsien (

Mason Lee Mason Lee (born May 30, 1990) is a Taiwanese-American actor. He is the son of three-time Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee, and Jane Lin, a microbiology researcher. He is best known for playing the role of Teddy in ''The Hangover Part II ...

) and Chiu Mei (

Amber Kuo Kuo Tsai-chieh (, born 19 February 1986), also known as Amber Kuo, is a Taiwanese singer and actress. Career Kuo made her debut in the music video of "我們小時候" (When We Were Young) by Taiwanese singer Tank (Taiwanese singer), Tank. She ...

) resume their friendship which soon blossoms into love. Sheng Peng meets Lin by accident, and invites her to Feng-hsien and Chiu Mei's wedding. During the wedding she also meets Chiu Hsiang who now lives in the United States. Sheng Peng dies of a heart attack in 1987, the same year Taiwan ends its

White Terror White Terror is the name of several episodes of mass violence in history, carried out against anarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, revolutionaries, or other opponents by conservative or nationalist groups. It is sometimes contrasted wit ...

(and lifts the travel ban to mainland China). In 2010, Sheng Feng-hsien (Tao Chuan-cheng), already an old man, travels to Sheng Peng's hometown in

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

to meet with Sheng Peng's brother-in-law (Fan Kuang-yao). He learns that Sheng Peng's wife Ma Chiao-lin (Jiang Ruijia) and baby died within a year after Sheng Peng went to Taiwan.

Cast

as Sheng Peng *Jiang Ruijia as Ma Chiao-lin, Sheng Peng's wife *Peng Ling as Chiao-lin's brother **

Fan Kuang-yao Fan Kuang-yao (born 3 May 1975) is a Taiwanese actor and xiangsheng performer. He has been nominated for three Golden Bell Awards and won once in 2005. Selected filmography *''Lust, Caution'' (2007) *''Night Market Hero'' (2011) *''Amour et Pâ ...

as Chiao-lin's brother (old) *Li Xiaochuan as Huang Te-shun *

as Lin Ah-yu *Tsai Ming-hsiu as Lin Ah-yu's father *

as Fan Chung-yueh *Zou Xuanqi as "Dog Two" (child), later renamed Feng-hsien **

as Sheng Feng-hsien (teen/adult) **Tao Chuan-cheng as Sheng Feng-hsien (old) * Bea Hayden as Chiu Hsiang *Lin Yu-ju as Chiu Mei (child) **

as Chiu Mei (teen/adult) *Lei Zhenyu as Chiu Hsiang's father *Huang Tsai-yi as Chiu Hsiang's mother *Lin Wen-yi as Chang Ming-li, Chiu Hsiang's best friend *Liu Yanchen as Chang Ming-jui, Ming-li's brother * Chang Shih as

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

ese customer * as Uncle Tang *Wang Dao-nan as Colonel Tung *Chu Chung-heng as Commander

External links

* *

References

{{Reflist Taiwanese historical drama films 2010s Mandarin-language films Films set in Taiwan Films shot in Taiwan Films set in China Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films set in the 1970s Films with screenplays by Kuo Cheng Films directed by Wang Toon