Brothers Under Heaven

Shi ZhongshanChina Culture and History Press2023

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Word count
171.5K words
Series
Collected Works of Chinese Professional Writers · Shi Zhongshan Volume
ISBN
9787520534482

Tags

Featured Fiction Family Stories Military FamilyTwinsFate EntanglementFamily EthicsFamily SeparationPatriotismFull-Length NovelPeriod Drama

Summary

The story is set in the early 1960s. Wang Guixiang, a poor rural pregnant woman, suddenly goes into labor in the fields and is taken by a passing military couple, Tian Liaoshen and Yang Peipei, to the division hospital, where she gives birth to twins. Tian Liaoshen is infertile due to a war injury, and Wang Guixiang, already with a son and a daughter, truly cannot afford to raise them, so she reluctantly gives the younger twin to the Tian family, and the two brothers are separated ever after. The elder brother Liu Dong grows up in hardship in the countryside; his brother Liu Shu drops out of school for his sake, and his sister Liu Cao gives up love for his sake. The younger brother Tian Cun grows up in a military family. Eighteen years later, fate brings the two to enlist in the same unit and the same squad; the unaware brothers become rivals, clashing fiercely in career, love, and life, until the truth finally comes out and the family is reunited.

Editor's review

Shi Zhongshan continues the military-family narrative of Years of Passion, using the separation and reunion of twins as the main line to weave together mother-son, sibling, comrade, and romantic love into a deeply emotional, tear-jerking story. It suits readers who like period family dramas and military themes; the weakness is that the plot leans melodramatic with many coincidences, so readers seeking suspense or fast pacing may find it flat.

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the opening scene of Wang Guixiang giving birth by the roadside to understand the root of the brothers' separation
  2. Note the sacrifices Liu Shu and Liu Cao make for their brother; they are key to understanding the book's emotions
  3. After the reunion in the military, pay attention to the unaware-identity setup behind the brothers' rivalry

About the publisher

China Culture and History Press China · Founded in 1980

China Culture and History Press has long devoted itself to modern and contemporary literature and culture-and-history reading matter, with publishing directions centered on classic works, social novels, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy, alongside culture-and-history periodicals such as Zongheng. Among the more than 1,500 titles in the collection, representative books include Zhang Henshui's Ti Xiao Yin Yuan, Lu Xun's Complete Classic Works (10 volumes) and Wild Grass, and Lao She's Four Generations Under One Roof series and the boxed set of Lao She's Classic Works (10 volumes), while its author resources are concentrated on figures such as Zhang Henshui, Lu Xun, Lao She and Sima Qian. Its publishing character lies in solid editorial work on culture-and-history source texts and in issuing famous authors' works in sets, balancing the readability of individual texts with the systematic presentation of complete collections for focused reading and collecting. Beyond these directions, public information on the press's contemporary original publishing is limited, so it is not elaborated here.

FAQ

What is this book about? It tells the family story of twins forced apart in the 1960s by poverty who reunite and recognize each other in the military eighteen years later.
Has this book been adapted into a TV series? The book has been adapted into a TV series of the same name.
Who is it suitable for? It suits readers who enjoy period family and military-family themes.

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About the author

Shi Zhongshan Author · Chinese · 1964

Shi Zhongshan was born in October 1964 into a military family in Jilin. He joined the army in 1981 and spent sixteen years working in air force radar units, aviation units, and logistics academies. After being transferred to civilian work in 1997, he held posts at the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television and Beijing Television. He is now a professional writer in the Creative Writing Office of the Political Work Department of the Armed Police Headquarters. His writing is rooted in military life. His works include The Years of Passion, Loud Military Songs, and Happiness Like a Flower, several of which have been adapted for film and television, and he has repeatedly won the Five One Project Award and the Flying Apsaras Award. His prose collection Encounters, included in the library, shows that beyond fiction he also records observations on life in a plain and sincere prose style, continuing his attention to military life and everyday existence.