A book about love as well as despair, about the eternal change between peace and war, hope and loss. Alexander Schmitz, Welt am Sonntag. The endless fields are the glory and wealth of the Chinese village of Gaomi. They stretch in powerful red waves to the horizon. The curtains of the palanquin, in which the beautiful Dai Fenglian is carried to her future husband Shan, are also red. But when the palanquin bearer Yu Zhan'ao and Dai Fenglian see each other, they ignite in love for one another. As an opulent family saga, the novel traces the fate of a village against the backdrop of the Sino-Japanese War. Forty years later, the grandson remembers the sweet scent of freshly distilled liquor and the many stories and loose jokes. The spirits of his ancestors urge him to continue the tradition of the village and his family.