Part I: Chapter Two, Interval before the Storm Summary and Analysis

The struggle meetings and interviews continue for Cheng. She is asked to write down various activities, but her correspondences are rarely actually read. In the middle of all this activity, Mr. Hu visits Cheng. He is a former friend of her late husband and although male friendship with women is not socially typical in China at the time, he visits her out of a sense of duty to Cheng's late husband. Mr. Hu has been struggling with the latest political changes as well. He has gone from the owner of a paint factory to the lowest position available after the Chinese government takes over the business. He receives a fraction of its worth and instead, other men who are not skilled to run his factory are put...