Fortress Besieged
Follow Fang Hung-chien, a bumbling yet relatable Chinese intellectual in the 1930s, as he navigates the messy, absurd realities of love, career, and marriage. After buying a fake doctorate for $40 to please his family, he returns home and gets tangled in a shipboard love triangle. In Shanghai, he falls for the charming Tang Hsiao-fu, only to have his lies exposed by a scorned suitor. Desperate to escape, he takes a teaching job at remote San Lü University, where he’s caught in petty faculty politics and false pretenses. Eventually, he marries quiet colleague Sun Jou-chia, but their marriage quickly devolves into bickering and resentment. Qian Zhongshu’s sharp satire lays bare the iconic 'fortress besieged' truth: everyone longs to enter relationships, jobs, and social circles, yet once inside, they’re desperate to break free. A hilarious, poignant look at the universal struggle to find belonging without feeling trapped.