Farewell China (1990) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Li Hong stopped contacting her family after she learned she might qualify for permanent residence in the United States. She requested a divorce from her husband Zhao Nansheng and ceased all communication, likely hoping to start a new life alone in America without the burden of her past family obligations.

Foreshadowing: Early in the film, Li's letters already carried a tone of homesickness, hinting at her internal conflict about leaving her family.

• divorce
• abandonment
• permanent residency
• immigration
• family separation

After Li requested a divorce and stopped communicating, Zhao made the desperate decision to find her. He traveled to Panama and was smuggled into the United States via Mexico, taking a perilous illegal immigration route to reach New York City.

Foreshadowing: Zhao's decision to go to New York was directly triggered by Li's divorce request and the complete loss of communication.

• illegal immigration
• Panama
• Mexico
• smuggling
• Zhao journey

After arriving in New York, Li attended English classes and worked at a Taiwanese restaurant in Harlem. She was raped at work by two African American men, a traumatic event that contributed to her psychological deterioration. She later entered into a sham marriage with a Chinese businessman and took his money.

Foreshadowing: The restaurant owners' revelation about Li's assault explains her later emotional instability and desperate behavior.

• rape
• Harlem
• Taiwanese restaurant
• sham marriage
• psychological breakdown

Li Hong entered into a sham marriage with a Chinese businessman, likely as a scheme to obtain permanent residency or financial security. She took his money and then disappeared, which explains why the businessman was angry when confronted by Zhao and Jane.

Foreshadowing: This revelation about the sham marriage exposes the lengths Li went to survive in America, contrasting with Zhao's faithful search for her.

• sham marriage
• Chinese businessman
• laundry shop
• money
• green card

When Zhao finally found Li, she was fluent in English and pretended not to recognize him, even calling him a slur. This behavior suggests severe psychological deterioration, possibly stemming from her rape trauma, her illegal status, and her shame about her past actions. She feared surveillance and the consequences of her choices.

Foreshadowing: Li's transformation from a homesick wife to a emotionally detached woman mirrors her descent into despair and illegal activities.

• psychological breakdown
• English fluency
• estrangement
• trauma
• Chinatown

Li Hong stabbed Zhao with a screwdriver during a confrontation near a Statue of Liberty replica. Her mental state had deteriorated severely, she was paranoid, attempting to defraud elderly retirees in Chinatown, and viewing everyone as a threat. The stabbing appears to be an act of desperate violence driven by her psychosis and fear of exposure.

Foreshadowing: The earlier scene where Li tries to scam elderly people in the park foreshadows her complete break from reality.

• stabbing
• death
• screwdriver
• psychosis
• Statue of Liberty

Jane, the fifteen-year-old runaway from Detroit whom Zhao met, decided to turn her life around and return to school. She parted ways with Zhao after he expressed guilt over their kiss and his role as her pimp. Jane represents a potential path to redemption that Zhao could not take.

Foreshadowing: Jane's decision to leave contrasts with Zhao's continued descent into moral corruption.

• Jane
• Detroit
• runaway
• school
• redemption

After arriving in New York and struggling to survive without money or English skills, Zhao's life deteriorated. He became Jane's pimp as a means of survival in the city's underworld, though he later felt deep revulsion after kissing her, recognizing the moral corruption of his actions.

Foreshadowing: Zhao's descent began with his isolation in New York and the friend who refused to help him.

• pimp
• descent
• moral corruption
• survival
• prostitution

Zhao died clutching a photograph of himself with Li Hong and their son. This photograph represents his unbroken connection to his family and the dream that drove his entire journey, the hope of reuniting with his wife and child. His death at the foot of a Statue of Liberty replica symbolizes the tragic irony of the immigrant dream.

Foreshadowing: The photo was introduced earlier in the film, emphasizing Zhao's constant reminder of what he was fighting to reclaim.

• photograph
• son
• death
• Statue of Liberty
• immigrant dream

Li and Zhao's son remained in Guangzhou with his grandparents, completely unaware of his parents' fate. The mid-credits scene shows the child continuing his life in China, representing the ultimate tragedy, a family destroyed by the pursuit of the American dream, leaving the next generation parentless.

Foreshadowing: The film's opening establishes the son as the reason Li left, making his abandoned state the final tragic note.

• son
• Guangzhou
• grandparents
• orphan
• family separation