This story mainly describes the experience of Aunt Lan, who was sold to others at the age of three, brought to Beijing from Suzhou at the age of fourteen, and married to a sixty-eight-year-old man at the age of twenty. She suffered all the bullying in this family, and later fled there and came to Yingzi's home. From then on, she disrupted the peaceful life of Yingzi's family. Yingzi hated Aunt Lan from then on.

When the new youth were making revolution, many revolutionary young people were killed. A man named Dexian often went to Yingzi's house to hide, and fell in love with Aunt Lan during his contact with her. The situation in Beijing was tense, so Aunt Lan and De Xian left Beijing for Tianjin and Shanghai. From then on, the Yingzi family returned to a peaceful life.

Extended information:

"Old Things in the South of the City" is an autobiographical novel. The author draws on the pure and quality eyes of childhood Yingzi, and uses the life in Peking as the background to tell a sad and touching story. The story of the south of the city unfolds a series of scenery paintings of Peiping, and at the same time completes her nostalgia and aftertaste of her beautiful childhood. The whole book includes five chapters: "Hui'an Pavilion", "Let's Go to the Sea", "Aunt Lan", "Donkey Rolling", "Dad's Flowers Have Fallen" and a short chapter "Winter Sun·Childhood·Camel Team".

About the author

Lin Haiyin (1918-2001), formerly known as Lin Hanying, nicknamed Yingzi, is a Taiwanese writer. Born in Japan, he went to Beijing with his parents when he was a child and settled in the south of the city. He received primary and secondary education in Beijing and later graduated from the World Journalism College. He returned to Taiwan in 1948 and began literary creation. He once served as a reporter and editor for "World Daily" and presided over the supplement of "United Daily News" for 10 years. He wrote many novels and short story collections throughout his life.

Lin Haiyin won the "Tribute Award to Senior Chinese Writers" from the "World Chinese Writers Association" and the "Asian Chinese Writers Literary Foundation" in 1994, and won the "World Chinese Writers Conference" in 1998 "Lifetime Achievement Award" presented. His autobiographical novel "Old Things in the South of the City" won the second May Fourth "Literary Contribution Award" in 1999, and the German version won the "Blue Cobra Award" from Switzerland.