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Wang Lung’s father chooses for his son’s bride a slave girl from the house of Hwang, a girl who will keep the house clean, prepare the food, and not waste her time thinking about clothes. In the morning, Wang Lung leads her out through the gate of the big house, and they stop at a temple and burn incense. That is their marriage. O-lan is a good wife. She thriftily gathers twigs and wood so they will not have to buy fuel. She mends Wang Lung’s and his father’s winter clothes and scours the house. She works in the fields beside her husband, even on the day she bears their first son.

The founding of the Republic of China on January 1, 1912, was a result of the successful Wuchang Uprising of October 10, 1911, a day celebrated as Double Tenth, or National Day, in Taiwan. The uprising was an antifeudal, anti-imperialist revolution which forced Chinese emperor Xuan Tong of the Qing dynasty and his government to abdicate. The new government of the Republic of China (ROC) elected Dr. Sun Yat-sen its interim president and created a democratic constitution declaring all people equal, regardless of class or race, and entitled to the freedoms of speech, religion, and association. In 1949 Chinese communists took over the government of mainland China and, with the backing of the Soviet Union, formed the People's Republic of China. The ROC government was forced to move to the tiny island of Taiwan off the coast of China, where it remains independent of mainland rule.