A tall, dark youth with an honest high cheeked face, Wang Yuan stands taller than most Chinese youth his age. Although he is willful, he is also shy. His voice is deep and yet there is a delicateness in his speech. He is the only son of Wang the Tiger, the son of Wang Lung. Wang Yuan grows up living a sheltered life within the courts of his father who is a war lord. When the story opens, Wang Yuan is 19-years-old. He struggles with the fact that his father is a lord, goes away to the school of war and wears the uniform of a revolutionist. However, he walks away from his comrades knowing he cannot fight against his father, and yet when he sees his father he also knows he cannot live.....
