ABSTRACT
Ah-jung begins her story in an almost opposite vein. She and her husband met and fell in love when they were university students. Her pointed reference to the 'congratulatory voices of our friends' when they married, along with the absence of any mention of relatives on either side, imply that the two married without their parents' consent. a network of friends seems to have replaced, at least partly, the more traditional family networks as a source of psychological and financial support. But the modern economic sector, symbolized by the great metropolis of Shanghai, was not adequate to sustain their modern marriage, and eventually economic difficulties eroded their happiness. In the eyes of our friends, her husband and she were a perfect couple when we got married. Our university was located in a small, out-of-the-way town, on the banks of the Chia-ling River, which flowed peacefully.
