as "Wandering in the Garden, Waking from a Dream.") The Eternal Snow Beauty (永遠的尹雪豔) The aging "Snow Beauty" (Yin Hsueh-yen) looks back on her days as the belle of Shanghai's Paramount ballroom; she is still the center of attention at upscale mahjong soirees she arranges at her Taipei home. A Touch of Green (一把青) In an extended tale, the (female) narrator observes how an innocent middle school bride (Verdancy Chu) transcends the death of her air force pilot husband during the war years to attain some degree of stability in the post-war Taiwan environment. The story touches on the KMT-related New Life Movement as an element of continuity in the social life of mainland loyalists in the pre- and post-war eras. New Year's Eve (歲除) A visit by a former commanding officer (Brother Lai) for some New Year's Eve dining and drinking provides a contrast between the heroic tales of past military exploits and the limitations of his current situation. An important "character" in the story is the fiery Kaoliang wine, famous in Taiwan for its power. The Last Night of Taipan Chin (金大班的最後一夜) "Taipan Chin" is actually a woman who commands a taxi dancer group. In the story, she reflects on her choices, especially the insurmountable contradictions between wealth/security vs. love vs. freedom. A Sea of Blood-red Azaleas (那片血一般紅的杜鵑花) A servant, Wang Hsiung, epitomizes the torment of exile. The story is pervaded with "fish out of water" symbolism. The story leans heavily on the use of the azalea as a symbol of homesickness and exile in Chinese culture. Ode to Bygone Days (思舊賦) Two old servants meet and talk about all the changes around them, especially those occurring in the rich family they have served. The story views decay as seen from beneath. The story falls in a genre that explores the equivalence of the "mansion" and the "family," and the interweaving threads in their parallel growth and decline, in (modern) Chinese literature. See, for instance, Ba Jin's Family and the classic of late imperial Chinese literature, Dream of the Red Chamber. The Dirge of Liang Fu (梁父吟) On the occasion of the funeral of a general, one of his cohorts recounts past exploits. The story conveys the utter resolution of substantial elements of the elite mainlander class to "recover the Mainland," even as age and distance render their desires impossible. The story includes a recounting of events connected