The Crossing (2016) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Lei Yifang was promoted to lieutenant general because he personally led a daring assault that broke the Japanese defensive lines in Manchuria. His successful breakthrough overwhelmed entrenched enemy positions and secured a major victory for the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, earning him this recognition and elevated status during World War II.

• Lei Yifang promotion
• Manchuria battle
• Japanese lines
• lieutenant general

Dr. Yen Zekun was a Chinese field medic who was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army from Taiwan. Though Chinese by ethnicity, he was forced into service under Japanese colonial rule. His conflicting loyalties created ongoing moral tension throughout the story, especially as he carried a letter from his Japanese lover Masako.

• Yen Zekun
• Japanese army
• Taiwan
• conscripted
• Masako

Yu Zhen agreed to pose for a composite family portrait with a borrowed baby because Tong Daqing needed it to secure rations for his parents. The photograph would make him appear as a family man with dependents, which entitled him to additional food supplies during wartime scarcity in Shanghai.

Foreshadowing: The studio meeting earlier in the film hints at Yu Zhen's desperation and willingness to engage in deception for survival.

• Yu Zhen
• Tong Daqing
• family portrait
• Shanghai
• rations

Yu Zhen turned to prostitution because she needed money to survive and eventually afford passage to Taiwan to find her missing boyfriend Yang Tianhu. After her picture-perfect dream dissolved and she could not find legitimate work as the war drained resources, she began working at a club before resorting to prostitution as the only means of escape.

• Yu Zhen
• prostitution
• Shanghai
• Yang Tianhu
• Taiwan
• survival

The Huaihai Campaign was a major battle during the Chinese Civil War where Lei Yifang's 12th Army was pushed toward encirclement as Communist forces severed supply lines. Lei ordered a breakout, but countermanding orders undermined the operation. The campaign represented a turning point where Lei was forced to fight fellow Chinese rather than foreign invaders.

• Huaihai Campaign
• Lei Yifang
• encirclement
• Communists
• Nationalists

The 108th Division defected to the Communists as the war dragged on and loyalties shifted under mounting pressure. Tong Daqing discovered the division's defection and attempted to report it, but the betrayal exposed the fragile loyalty of Nationalist forces during the civil war's final stages.

• 108th Division
• defect
• Communists
• Tong Daqing
• loyalty

Lei Yifang died when a tank shell struck his command post during the breakout attempt. As his forces crumbled, he entrusted his diary to Tong Daqing and ordered him to deliver it to Zhou Yunfen. Tong pulled Lei to safety as a truck exploded nearby, but Lei was killed in the final strike on the command post.

Foreshadowing: Lei's earlier decision to shoot his warhorse for meat foreshadows the desperate circumstances that lead to his death.

• Lei Yifang death
• tank shell
• command post
• diary
• Tong Daqing

The ship sank after a drunken captain caused a fatal collision between vessels. The collision occurred as three couples fled the mainland toward Taiwan in 1949 during the Chinese Communist Revolution. The ship splintered and sank within minutes, throwing survivors into the cold sea.

• ship sinking
• 1949
• collision
• drunk captain
• Taiwan
• flee

Dr. Yen Zekun died after being stabbed while using his medical skills to aid the wounded during the ship sinking disaster. In his final moments, he envisioned his lover Masako, finding peace as he recalled their relationship despite the tragedy of the circumstances.

• Yen Zekun death
• stabbed
• Masako
• ship sinking
• medical aid

Lei's diary was a manuscript of heartache and devotion that he wrote for his wife Zhou Yunfen. He entrusted it to Tong Daqing with instructions to deliver it to Zhou. The diary served as a living testament to their love and became a conduit that bound Zhou to Lei's memory after his death, even as she raised their son.

Foreshadowing: Zhou's discovery of Masako's diary earlier foreshadows the importance of written documents in preserving personal memory.

• Lei Yifang diary
• Zhou Yunfen
• memoir
• love
• delivery

Zhou Yunfen departed for Taiwan while pregnant because she feared for her safety and her unborn child's future as the Nationalist cause collapsed on the mainland. She left aboard the Taiping ship, with a cousin photographing the departure. Lei watched from the shadows, unable to bridge the growing distance between them.

• Zhou Yunfen
• Taiwan
• pregnant
• Lei Yifang
• departure
• Taiping

Tong Daqing rescued Lei from the exploding command post out of loyalty and shared camaraderie. Despite being badly burned in the effort, Tong dragged Lei to safety, demonstrating selfless heroism. Their earlier moments together studying family photos and discussing home had created a bond that drove Tong to risk everything.

Foreshadowing: Their shared moment repairing the radio earlier establishes the connection that motivates Tong's heroism.

• Tong Daqing
• Lei Yifang
• rescue
• burned
• loyalty
• heroism

Yu Zhen and Tong Daqing reunited among the wreckage after the ship sank in 1949. Tong, who had lost the notebook Lei entrusted to him, was injured in the disaster. Yu Zhen, who had helped preserve Yen's survival years earlier, found Tong among the debris as survivors clung to wreckage until rescue arrived.

• Yu Zhen
• Tong Daqing
• reunion
• ship sinking
• rescue
• HMAS