The Crossing II (2015) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Lei Yifang sends his pregnant wife Zhou Yunfen to Taiwan because the Nationalist forces are losing ground to the Communists during the Chinese Civil War. As a lieutenant general commanding the 12th Army, Lei knows the front lines will become increasingly dangerous and unstable. Taiwan represented the safest option for his wife and unborn child as the Communist victory became inevitable. The decision reflects the painful reality facing many Nationalist families in 1949, who had to choose between fleeing or risking capture.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Zhou confides her fears about being sent away, and Lei reassures her, though the prophecy of separation hangs over their marriage.

• lei yifang
• zhou yunfen
• taiwan
• 1949
• separation
• pregnant

Lei Yifang dies during a tank shell strike at his command post during the Huaihai Campaign. As the Nationalist 12th Army faces encirclement and supply lines are severed, Lei is confronted with the devastating reality of fighting his own countrymen. During the chaos of battle, Tong Daqing saves Lei's life but sustains severe injuries from the explosion. Lei dies clutching his wedding photograph, with his final thoughts of his wife. Tong survives and is entrusted with delivering Lei's diary to Zhou.

Foreshadowing: The film shows Lei's heart ache as he realizes he has wandered back into the same battles where he once fought Japanese troops, now facing his own countrymen.

• lei yifang
• death
• huaihai campaign
• tank shell
• tong daqing

Yu Zhen turns to prostitution as a desperate means of survival in war-torn Shanghai. After leaving her job at the hospital and struggling to find work, she scavenges for discarded fruit and sleeps under bridges during blackout drills and severe food shortages. When she can no longer sustain herself, she enters a life of prostitution to eat and survive while still clinging to the hope of reuniting with her missing boyfriend Yang Tianhu, who fought the Communists. The film portrays this as a heartbreaking choice driven by extreme poverty rather than moral failure.

Foreshadowing: Yu's life in Shanghai grows increasingly precarious, with the city wading through blackout drills and food shortages that leave her with few options.

• yu zhen
• prostitution
• shanghai
• survival
• poverty
• yang tianhu

The Taiping ship collision occurs as three couples flee China toward Taiwan following the 1949 Communist Revolution. Their voyage ends in disaster when their ship collides with another vessel at sea. The wreck creates chaos, with passengers fighting for survival amid floating debris and panic. Dr. Yan Zenkun uses his medical skills to help the wounded stay afloat amid splintered debris. An Australian warship, HMAS, eventually arrives to rescue survivors. This historical disaster is the central tragedy around which the film's narrative unfolds.

Foreshadowing: The Zhou family sees Zhou off on the Taiping, with Lei watching from the shadows - a poignant farewell that hints at the danger ahead.

• taiping
• ship collision
• 1949
• rescue
• hmas
• taiwan voyage

The 108th Division, a unit within Lei Yifang's 12th Army, defects to the Communists during the Huaihai Campaign. This desertion represents a major blow to the Nationalist forces at a critical moment when they are already surrounded and facing severe supply shortages. The defection weakens the already fragile Nationalist lines and contributes to the ultimate collapse of Lei's army. The event forces Tong Daqing to confront the reality that even trusted units are abandoning the Nationalist cause as the Communist victory becomes inevitable.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, morale differences are shown between the Communist trenches where civilians bring food and the nationalist lines where soldiers grow hungry.

• 108th division
• defection
• huaihai campaign
• nationalists
• communists

Yan Zenkun and Zhou Yunfen connect through a combination of fate and shared history. After arriving in Taiwan, Zhou is bitten by a snake and hospitalized, where Yan - now working as a physician - tends to her care. More significantly, Zhou recognizes Yan's name from a painting left behind by Masako Shimura, Yan's Japanese lover. This connection sparks a tentative conversation that deepens into a wary friendship between two people bound by shared longing for loves lost - Masako for Yan, and Lei for Zhou. Their connection is further intertwined through art and memory in Zhou's new home.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Yan's mother burns letters from Masako, showing the painful distances carved by empire and occupation.

• yan zenkun
• zhou yunfen
• masako
• connection
• painting
• medical care

Lei Yifang entrusts his diary to Tong Daqing during the chaos of the Huaihai Campaign, shortly before his death. The diary, written to his wife Zhou, serves as a final testament to a life he cannot fully live and a memory he cannot abandon. After Lei dies clutching his wedding photo, Tong survives his injuries and makes his way to Taiwan. Four months after the ship's disaster, Tong arrives at Zhou's home with the devastating news of Lei's fate and delivers the diary, creating a bridge between a mother who has endured loss and a husband who in another life might have stood by her side.

Foreshadowing: Tong's care for Lei grows when Lei asks him to, and help repair a radio the two men bond over fragile family portraits that tether their identities.

• lei yifang diary
• tong daqing
• zhou yunfen
• delivery
• testament

Tong Daqing arranges for Yu Zhen and a borrowed baby to pose for a 'family portrait' at a wedding studio in Shanghai. This wartime improvisation is intended to secure extra food rations by presenting Yu as a married woman with a child. After the photos are taken, the studio owner is approached with an even more delicate request: to craft an altered image depicting Dr. Yan and Masako together, a fragile fabrication born of wartime desperation. Tong and Yu then retreat to a noodle shop where Tong explains the strange logic of soldier identification numbers and how people can be counted as 'dead or alive.'

Foreshadowing: Tong clutches the idea of the 'family portrait' as his comrades pass the image among themselves, showing its importance to soldiers separated from families.

• family portrait
• food rations
• tong daqing
• yu zhen
• wedding studio

Tong Daqing saves Lei Yifang's life out of deep loyalty and friendship developed throughout the film. Their bond grows when Tong helps Lei repair a radio, and they share conversations about fragile family portraits that tether their identities to what they have left behind. When the tank shell strikes the command post during the Huaihai Campaign, Tong physically shields Lei and takes the worst of the explosion, sustaining grave injuries. After the battle, Tong's loyalty is further tested when he chooses to return to his commander and pleads for the chance to fight on, ultimately fulfilling his duty by delivering the diary to Zhou.

Foreshadowing: Tong's loyalty is established early when he arranges the family portrait and explains soldier identification numbers, showing his commitment to helping others.

• tong daqing
• lei yifang
• loyalty
• rescue
• injury
• duty

The three couples making the perilous voyage to Taiwan are: Lei Yifang and Zhou Yunfen (who are separated when Zhou leaves on the Taiping while Lei stays behind), Yu Zhen and Yang Tianhu (who has gone to fight the Communists and whom Yu hopes to reunite with), and Dr. Yan Zenkun with his Japanese lover Masako Shimura (who are separated by war and occupation). The 1949 Communist Revolution propels all three couples from China toward Taiwan, though the voyage ends in disaster with the ship collision. The film interweaves their parallel journeys set against the historical backdrop of the Taiping sinking.

Foreshadowing: The Zhou family sees Zhou off on the Taiping, while Lei watches from the shadows - a silent witness to her departure.

• three couples
• voyage
• taiwan
• 1949
• separation
• reunion