Mount Lu or Lushan, also known as Kuanglu (匡庐) in ancient times, is situated in the northern part of Jiangxi province in southeastern China, and is one of the most renowned mountains in the country. The oval-shaped mountains are about 25 km long and 10 km wide, and neighbors Jiujiang city and the Yangtze River to the north, Nanchang city to the south, and Poyang Lake to the east. Its highest point is Dahanyang Peak (大汉阳峰), reaching 1,474 m above sea level, and is one of the hundreds of steep peaks that towers above a sea of clouds that encompass the mountains for almost 200 days out of the year. Mount Lu is known for its grandeur, steepness, and beauty, and is part of Lushan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996, and a prominent tourist attraction, especially during the summer months when the weather is cooler.

Chi earned her American dream after persevering with her studies in Taiwan. Following her grandmothers’ death, Chi returns to her family on Happiness Road, where she begins to feel nostalgic about her childhood and starts to contemplate the meaning of “life” and “home”. What is happiness? Will Chi find her own happiness?

In the late 1980's Shanghai, a 16 year-old boy, Xiaoli, comes of age surrounded by his neighbors and grandfather. His best friend is a girl named Lanmi, a couple years older than him. But Lanmi slowly drifts away from him, lured by the new opportunities which come as China opens up to foreign goods and businessmen. At the same time, the 1989 events force Xiaoli to grow up and to let go of his teenage dreams.

The setting is a heavily wooded, bandit-infested mountain pass somewhere in northern China during the Sino-Japanese War. In a dilapidated church lives a sullen young woman and her ferocious mutt. Passing through are strong, silent traders and porters, to whom she dispenses food, foot care and occasional sexual favors. Following an attack by bandits, a brutish porter stays on to tend his injuries and make moves on the woman. She, meanwhile, has the mutual hots for another porter, the handsome, kindlier “Sixth Brother." As tensions rise between the two men, the Japanese arrive to take the place by force...

42 years old A-Min is a quiet and reserved man. He is a delivery worker in a fish market in Tainan. He is secretly gay and has never been out of the closet. His wife, Xiaohui who was young and already pregnant when they met. She took off after giving birth to her daughter Xiaofeng. A-min and Xiaofeng had been each other’s only family ever since, until one day, when A-Min finds Xiao-feng missing...

Thirteen year old Xiao-Yan is devoted to her studies at her local school and determined to use them as a spring-board out of her mundane fate. Unfortunately for her, the school fees for the new term are set to increase from 20 yuan up to 24 and her mother, struggling to cope on her meager income while her husband is away working, is unwilling to stump up the new amount. Young Xiao-Yan is made of sterner stuff though and, in between looking after her two troublesome younger brothers during the holidays, she thinks of a way to raise the money herself. Initially she takes eggs from home and tries to sell them at the market, but this scheme proves to offer scant reward for her efforts. Inspired by the transactions of the local cattle market, Xiao-Yan forms an unsteady alliance with a street-smart urchin to raise a lamb with the intention of selling it on later for significant profit.