Raised in a distinguished family of scholarly backgrounds, writer Wen-Yue Lin was nicknamed “The Great Wonder of National Taiwan University.” Born in Shanghai, Lin held Japanese nationality until the age of twelve and was the granddaughter of famous Chinese historian Lian Heng who authored the General History of Taiwan. Her family moved to Taiwan after the Japanese retrocession at the end of WWII. It was then that Lin acquired a new citizenship and began to learn the Chinese language.

This documentary traces the milestones in Wen-Yue Lin’s life via her autobiographical prose. The turmoil of war in modern China and migration to Taiwan defined Lin’s childhood. The teachings of literati and professor Jing-Nong Tai and literature scholar Qian Zheng significantly influenced her writing style. Also punctuating the movie are her destined love and marriage with her husband and the hard-earned achievement of translating the Japanese classic. The Tale of Genji, to which she committed five and a half years of continual endeavor and perseverance. Wen-Yue Lin is acclaimed for her large and diverse repertoire of works, which includes translation of literature, academic publications as well as prose writing. Her canny depictions of personalities and unique events unravel much of her deep nostalgia for the past and personal memories, establishing a literary style that is as rhetorically eloquent as it is enjoyable to read.