Outline edit

The plot is divided into seven parts, each focusing on distinct themes and events.

Synopsis edit

On 7 July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident sparks off the Second Sino-Japanese War as Japan launches a full invasion on China. Dida Cheng, a deserter from the Chinese army, flees to Malaya, where he meets Cuicui, a Chinese opera actress, and Hideko, a Japanese woman. The three of them are drawn into a complex love triangle. Xie Guomin, an anti-Japanese activist, and Zhou Wenlong, the asthmatic son of a tailor, both fall in love with the porridge vendor Wang Qiumei. After Wang is publicly humiliated by an evil businessman, she is saved by Zhou and decides to marry him. However, she is already secretly pregnant with Xie's child. Their relationships become very strained.

After the Japanese occupied Singapore in 1942, the Sook Ching Massacre takes place when thousands of Chinese deemed to be anti-Japanese activists are rounded up and executed. Following his arrest by the Kempeitai, Xie Guomin becomes a hanjian and informer after succumbing to the enemy under torture. On the other hand, Dida Cheng becomes a resistance fighter and an ally of Force 136, and he continues to fight the Japanese invaders to liberate Singapore.

Historical figures such as the war heroes Lim Bo Seng, Elizabeth Choy and Sybil Kathigasu, the philanthropist Tan Kah Kee, as well as notorious Japanese military figures such as Ishibe Toshiro and Yoshimura Ekio, are also featured as semi-fictional characters in the drama.

Main cast edit

• Rayson Tan as Lim Bo Seng^[3]
• Xiang Yun as Elizabeth Choy
• Chen Shucheng as Tan Kah Kee (Chen Jiageng)
• Jacintha Abisheganaden as Sybil Kathigasu
• James Lye as Chen Dacheng^[3]
• Lina Ng as Zhang Cuicui^[3]
• Christopher Lee as Xie Guomin^[3]
• Ivy Lee as Xiuxiu / Natsuki Hideko
• Carole Lin as Wang Qiumei^[3]
• Ryan Choo as Zhou Wenlong

Other cast edit

• Chen Guohua as Zhang Ada
• Hong Huifang as Wang Jinfeng^[3]
• Brandon Wong as Fang Qinghua
• Ken Tay as Zhou Ren
• Chunyu Shanshan as Miura Kiyoe
• Guo Yikai as Ishibe Toshiro
• Wang Jinlong as Yoshimura Ekio
• Wang Kangwei as Zhuang Huiquan
• Xu Bing as Gan Choo Neo (Yan Zhuniang)
• Yang Yue as Konoe
• Li Shuyi as Ji Qiuxiang

The opening theme song, which shares the same title as the series, was sung in Mandarin by Sebastian Tan (Chen Ruibiao). The main theme of the 1997 Hong Kong film The Soong Sisters and Shanghai Grand is also extensively used in the series.

The series was shot on location in Singapore at the now-defunct TV World in Tuas, Tan Teck Guan Building, Danish Seamen's Church, St. Andrew's School, Chung Cheng High School (Main), The Chinese High School, and HQ Tanglin Barracks (Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building), among others. Extensive filming was also done in Ipoh, Malaysia.

• In Pursuit of Peace

• The Price of Peace official website