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《红头巾》40周年 "Samsui Women" Turns 40
Women's History Month • Samsui Women｜红头巾
1. About this Issue • 红头巾
1. About this Issue • 红头巾
We celebrate Women’s History Month with Samsui Women (1986 TV drama series), a beloved Singaporean TV drama that originally aired in 1986. The 24-episode series centers on a group of migrant women from China who helped build Singapore’s infrastructure before and after World War II. The two theme songs, performed by Sarah Chen, are arguably her most historically significant theme-song work.
As a pre-digital era TV series, Samsui Women has received only sporadic and sometimes distorted online coverage. Its English Wikipedia page provides no plot summary, while its Chinese-language sites reduce the series to a misleading “success versus failure” narrative about two women. Forty years later, we watched the series for the first time to examine its social significance.
2. Samsui Women Plot •《红头巾》剧情
2. Samsui Women Plot •《红头巾》剧情
Some of the main characters in Samsui Women. The two female leads (Zeng Huifen and Hong Huifang) gave outstanding performances.
「红头巾」电视连续剧的一些主要人物。两位女主角由曾慧芬和洪慧芳扮演，表现出色。
Samsui Women was a beloved 24-episode Singaporean TV drama series from 1986. It followed a group of poor Chinese women who worked as construction workers in 1930s–1950s Singapore. They supported each other through wartime as they navigated complex relationships.
《红头巾》是1986年非常受欢迎的24集新加坡电视连续剧。它描述了1930-1950年代中国女工在新加坡作建筑工人的经历和爱情故事。
Plot （English）
Plot （English）
Spoiler alert!
Samsui Women follows the love stories of two poor village girls from Samsui, China, who migrate to Singapore to work in construction around World War II: Dai Ah-Gui, hereafter “Cassia” for “Gui,” portrayed by Zeng Huifen, 18, and Dai Ah-Xiu, “Grace,” portrayed by Hong Huifang, 17. As close as sisters, they are each other’s greatest support. Both find love in Singapore, Cassia with the flamboyant truck driver Su Ah-Zhi, “Arthur,” and Grace with the honest policeman Li Ah-Long, “Long.” But neither can marry the man she loves because of family traditions and wartime circumstances.
Cassia’s engagement to Arthur ends when her family arranges her marriage to Er-Niu, who later comes to Singapore with his concubine and their infant son. Feckless and prone to trouble, Er-Niu and his family become Cassia’s new dependents. Although illiterate and performing hard labor, Cassia teaches herself to read and write, learns to use the abacus, and acquires construction skills. Arthur leaves Singapore when it falls to Japan and returns after World War II, by which time Er-Niu has died in a revenge killing. Cassia and Arthur marry and adopt Er-Niu’s son after the boy’s mother abandons him.
Grace, who works for a time at a coffee shop serving rich men, is rejected by Long’s family. To pay another Samsui woman’s medical bill, she marries the wealthy Zhuang Jr., who is dying of tuberculosis. The couple develop genuine affection. During Japan’s invasion of Singapore, Grace suffers a miscarriage and, after her husband’s death, is expelled from the family. She opens a coffee shop and later marries Mr. Luo, a Japanese informant responsible for the death of Long’s family. But Luo also saves many others and is the only man who appreciates Grace’s courage. Luo is killed when Japan surrenders in 1945.
After the war, Grace rekindles her love with Long, who is then engaged to another woman. Devastated but convinced he will be better off with the other woman, Grace refuses Long’s proposal and marries a construction foreman who already has three wives. She and the third wife, Ah-Rong, despise each other from the time Ah-Rong works in Grace’s coffee shop. Ah-Rong kills the foreman when he tries to cover his debt by stealing her jewelry. In the ensuing chaos, Grace is pushed down a steep staircase and crashes into Cassia, who is pregnant. Grace breaks her leg and is disabled by the fall, and Cassia becomes infertile.
In the postwar years, Cassia leads several small construction projects but lacks the capital to take on larger ones, so Arthur sells his truck to support her first major project. As Cassia becomes successful, Arthur grows jealous and family tensions rise. With two young daughters, Cassia gives up her career while Arthur launches a successful transportation business. At Grace’s intervention, Cassia’s former father-in-law persuades Arthur to let Cassia return to work. She goes on to complete some of Singapore’s biggest construction projects.
The blame Grace receives for her actions, along with the guilt she feels, turns her into a recluse who often lives on the streets. The only people she loves are Cassia’s children and grandchildren. Decades later, at a Samsui women reunion, she dies suddenly while playing with Cassia’s grandchild nearby.
中文剧情 （展开）
中文剧情 （展开）
故事情节如下（含剧透）：
《红头巾》主要讲述从三水来的两个山村姑娘，于二战期间在新加坡作建筑工人的遭遇：18岁的戴阿桂（曾慧芬扮演）和17岁的戴阿秀（洪慧芳扮演）。她俩情同姐妹，彼此照顾。在新加坡都遇到了相爱的人：阿桂的恋人是开机车的热血青年苏阿治，阿秀的恋人是正直的警察李阿龙。但由于家庭传统和战时变故，两人都嫁给了他人，引来无数的烦恼。
在阿桂和阿治刚要成亲前夕，家乡来信说已将她许配给陈二牛。阿桂遵循传统断掉了和阿治的亲事，攒钱将二牛接到新加坡，没料到他真是个二流子，带来小老婆和儿子不说，还好吃懒做，到处惹是生非，一家三口成了阿桂的负担。阿桂很上进，学会了认字和算盘，还从阿秀的前公公那里学到建筑知识。日本占据新加坡后，阿治离开国土，战争结束后回家来发现陈二牛遭人报复身亡。阿桂和阿治终于成亲，领养了二牛小老婆抛弃的儿子。他俩生了两个女儿。
阿秀来新后，因经济所迫曾做过一段咖啡妹，应付有钱的花花公子。阿龙家嫌弃她品行不正，不赞成娶她。一次，三水女人的领头英姐大病，为了负她的医疗费，阿秀嫁给了建筑商的儿子、肺病晚期的庄少爷，夫妻俩感情不错。日本侵占新加坡时，动乱中阿秀流产；庄少爷不久便去世了，庄母得知阿秀已经没了胎儿便将她驱逐出家。阿秀开了一家咖啡店，然后嫁给了日本汉奸骆老板，他害死了阿龙一家十四口，但也救了不少人，是唯一欣赏阿秀的胆识的人。1945年日本投降后，骆老板被人打死。
二战结束后，阿秀和阿龙重温故情，但阿龙在战争期间已经有了未婚妻。阿秀唯一的真爱是阿龙，虽然阿龙的亲事让她心碎，她觉得阿龙跟那个女人一起会更幸福。阿龙转念后想和她成亲，但阿秀拒绝了他，为了让他死心便嫁给了已经有三个老婆的包工头。她和三姨太阿荣是冤家，挑衅中各自被包工头毒打了一顿。阿秀怂恿欠债的包工头偷阿荣的首饰，阿荣发现后将他打死，并将阿秀打下很高的台阶，撞到了怀有身孕的阿桂身上。阿秀从此瘸了腿，而阿桂丢了胎儿，此后不育。
到二战结束时，阿桂已经开始带领一些小的建筑项目，但没有本钱接大项目。阿治卖掉了他的机车，凑钱让她做了第一个大项目。但阿桂事业的成功给阿治带来心理不平衡，觉得自己像是个家庭妇女。为了阿治的幸福，阿桂放弃了她的事业，而阿治开启了成功的交通业。阿秀偶遇前公公庄老板，要他帮阿桂。庄老板说服了阿治，阿桂重回建筑业，和庄老板联手建筑了新加坡最高的大厦之一。
大家不理解阿秀的作为，责怪她，她自己对阿荣和包工头也内疚，从此她不愿和他人打交道，时常流落在街头。唯一让她心疼的人是阿桂的儿孙。数十年后，一次三水女人聚会时，阿秀和阿桂的孙子在一边玩儿，她突然死去。
3. Review of Samsui Women • 《红头巾》评论
3. Review of Samsui Women • 《红头巾》评论
The five Samsui Women: (from left) Sisters Silver and Gold, Grace, Cassia, and Sister Ying. 五位红头巾（自左）：翠银，翠金，阿秀，阿桂，英姐。
Review（click for English）
Review（click for English）
Samsui Women was a highly successful TV drama series in Singapore in the 1980s, in part because it gave voice to women at the bottom of society – uneducated migrant laborers working in construction. But how well does the series stand the test of time? What insights do we gain from watching it decades later, from a 21st-century perspective?
At the time of this review, the series was forty years old and its storyline nearly a century removed from the present. Traditions that restricted women a century ago – arranged marriage and polygyny – seem unimaginable today. While romantic love, such as that between Cassia and Arthur, eventually prevailed, Cassia chose to honor her arranged marriage. Polygyny, the practice of a man having multiple wives, was made worse by those men publicly asserting their right to abuse their wives. Today, such traditions are widely rejected, making Cassia’s acceptance of her arranged marriage hard to believe, even unjustifiable.
Those changing values, in which women’s agency is increasingly recognized, place Grace’s actions in a more favorable light today than a century ago. Despite her tragic end, Grace was the one who frequently challenged traditions, doing what she believed was right even when others judged her immoral. As beloved as Cassia was for her selflessness, Grace may be the drama’s understated hero – saving the Samsui women from the Japanese and paying their expenses at critical moments. Even her vices – vengeance toward those who wronged her and jealousy of Cassia – felt human. Notably, the only person who appreciated her character was her second husband, the Japanese informant whom everyone else despised.
Earlier plot summaries framed Cassia as a self-righteous, successful businesswoman, while Grace is described as making repeated misjudgments in her three failed marriages. Yet these summaries reflect less the perspective of the drama itself than a projection of the commentators’ own moral values. Samsui Women was successful because it resisted rigid moral judgment. The “good” characters – Cassia, Arthur, Long, and Sister Ying – were flawed in their own way. In contrast, the actions of its “villains” were rational, even heroic, given the circumstances.
While presenting these moral dilemmas, Samsui Women withheld final judgment. Instead, it granted humanity to all its characters by focusing on the love among them: romantic love between Cassia and Arthur, and Grace and Long; familial love between Sister Ying and her son, and Grandpa Su and Arthur; and the sisterhood among the Samsui women themselves. Herein lies the timeless value of Samsui Women – a tribute to the enduring love among people, even when they are imperfect and followed outdated traditions.
中文评论
中文评论
《红头巾》的成功部分来自选题，将重心放在位居社会底层的建筑女民工。但四十年后，这个电视剧是否还值得一看？从二十一世纪的角度来看，《红头巾》的价值在哪里？
在我们今天做这段评述时，《红头巾》已经四十年，而故事情节来自百年前。那时框在女人身上的一些习俗，比如包办婚姻和娶小老婆，如今很难想象。虽然在故事里阿桂和阿治的真爱最终实现了，但之前阿桂还是选择了包办婚姻。男人不仅娶小老婆，还在街上动粗，声称他打她们谁也管不了。这些习俗早已被否定，从现代角度看，阿桂嫁给二牛是最难接受的决定。
随着价值观的改变，女人自主的观念增强，阿秀那时的抉择如今看来更容易理解。虽然剧中阿秀下落凄惨，但她勇于违背常规，做她认为正确的事，不在乎别人怎么看。虽然《红头巾》的第一女主角是善良的阿桂，剧本显然将阿秀定位为被人忽视的英雄。是她将三水女人从日本人手中救出，也是她在关键的时候凑钱救人。连她的弱点，比如向阿荣报仇和嫉妒阿桂，都可以理解。值得一提的是，剧中唯一欣赏阿秀为人的人是她的第二个丈夫、大家都憎恨的日本汉奸骆老板。
过去网上的短评通常将阿桂描述成上进、成功的榜样，而阿秀则是三次嫁错了人、失败的例子。但这些总结并不是剧本的观点，而是写短评的人自己的道德观。事实上，《红头巾》之所以成功是因为它的道德观念非常成熟，不为传统道义所束。剧中善良的人，如阿桂，阿治，阿龙，还有英姐，都有明显的弱点。而那些看似不道德的人有时却是英雄，做出的选择通常是环境所迫。
虽然《红头巾》给大家呈现了道义问题，剧本自身并不作定论。它的重心不是道义，而是给所有的剧中人赋予人情。《红头巾》的根本是一系列爱的故事：浪漫的爱情（如阿桂和阿治，阿秀和阿龙）、母子情和爷孙情、三水女人之间的姐妹情，甚至养父养子的亲情。《红头巾》永恒的秘诀是它成熟的道德观以及对人情的贴切描述，哪怕大家都有缺陷，还遵循了早已过时的习俗。
4. Theme Songs • 陈淑桦的《红头巾》
4. Theme Songs • 陈淑桦的《红头巾》
The title theme of Samsui Women.
红头巾主题曲。词：程浩茵； 曲：李思菘
The second theme song Days Under the Sun.
插曲「艳阳下的日子」。词：嘉澄；曲：甄静
Theme Songs （click for English）
Theme Songs （click for English）
The main soundtracks of Samsui Women were two oustanding theme songs performed by Sarah Chen. The title track, Red Bandana, focuses on the Samsui women’s experiences, their longing for the home they left behind, and their hard-earned achievements in construction. The song served as both the opening and ending theme, with its music appearing frequently throughout the series. Decades after its airing, Red Bandana was voted as a top-five theme song in the quarter-century survey of Singapore’s films and television. One video shows thousands of people singing it in a large stadium, a testament to the song's place in Singapore's mainstream culture.
The secondary theme, Days Under the Sun, provides the emotional backbone of the series. Heard in isolation, the song feels like a philosophical take on life, lamenting that life is but a dream and asking why people take such divergent paths despite sharing the same beginnings. But within the drama, Days Under the Sun becomes an emotional outlet for both characters and audience. It is strategically placed, often when tragic circumstances become overwhelming: the death of Grace’s first husband; when Cassia finally decides to go with Arthur, only to find he had left an hour earlier; and when Grace becomes homeless.
Magazine clippings from 1986 carried short reports on Sarah Chen performing the themes for Samsui Women, noting that her voice was a good fit for the drama. Indeed, they could not have chosen a better singer. The quality of Chen’s voice – purely feminine yet surprisingly strong – is a perfect match for the Samsui women themselves. Chen, a Taiwanese singer who struggled for years before breaking through with EMI Singapore, was herself a “migrant worker” building a different kind of enterprise. Her ability to capture subtle emotions shines through in both songs. It is hard to imagine watching the grieving Grace without hearing Chen’s voice, the voice that wept with us as time and emotions froze.
The two themes for Samsui Women were Sarah Chen’s only studio recordings in 1986, when her career was momentarily interrupted by structural changes at her label. Outside Singapore, they did not receive widespread market exposure. Chen would go on to perform many popular theme songs, her best known being the 1990 Red Dust, another love story set during World War II. But her contribution to Samsui Women was on a completely different level. Chen was the voice of Grace, Cassia, and all the Samsui women, and of the audience engrossed in their stories. Her songs carried women's labor history to the popular culture.
陈淑桦的红头巾
陈淑桦的红头巾
《红头巾》不仅编剧和扮演成功，它的两首由陈淑桦演唱的主题曲和插曲也非常出色。主题曲名为「红头巾」，讲述女工的经历、思乡之情、和辛苦换来的大厦。这首歌通常出现在片头和片尾，曲调在剧中反复。二十几年后，新加坡观众将这首歌选成过去25年来主题曲的前五名。几千观众曾在体育馆里合唱「红头巾」，足见歌曲已经进入新加坡文化的主流。
插曲，「艳阳下的日子」，是电视剧的情感后盾。如果你只听歌，不知道《红头巾》的剧情，也许会觉得这是首有哲理、感叹人生的歌，尤其是那句“人生的开始本来相同，渐渐地朝着各自方向，同样是苦苦挣扎追求理想，结果是完全两样“。但在剧中，「艳阳下的日子」给人物和观众都提供了倾诉情感的方式。这首歌有系统性的安排，通常播放在悲痛难以继续下去的时候，比如阿秀失去了庄少爷时，阿桂决定跟阿治走却去晚了，或阿秀流落街头。
1986年的报刊曾提到 《红头巾》里的歌，说陈淑桦的歌声适合这两首歌。的确如此。陈淑桦的歌声是单纯的女声，然而轻柔中又非常强韧，配上了三水女人的特性。陈淑桦本人在台湾唱了几年不温不火的歌，她的突破来自签约于新加坡百代唱片公司，可以说她自己是漂流到新加坡来创建了另一种产业。她的演唱精确地把握了《红头巾》两首歌中细微而多样的情感。许多剧幕，比如阿秀悼念庄少爷那一幕，没了陈淑桦的歌声就很难卸去那份伤感。当时间和情感都突然停住了时，她的歌声倾诉了演员和观众共有的悲泣。
1986年，除了《红头巾》里的两首歌，陈淑桦没有发别的录音棚歌曲。那时百代唱片中断了四海在台湾的代理，她的生涯暂停。《红头巾》的歌除了在新加坡外没有广泛推出。陈淑桦后来演唱了不少更有名的主题曲，其中传唱最广的是《滚滚红尘》，也是二战时的爱情故事。但陈淑桦对《红头巾》的贡献远远超出《滚滚红尘》那一幕。她的歌声装满了近二十个小时的电视剧，唱出了阿桂、阿秀和所有三水女人的心声，为听众带来心理安慰，还将女工的历史传到了主流文化里。
1986年关于「红头巾」歌曲的报道。Magazine report on the theme songs from 1986.
Ref: 任翔. EMI 红头巾 意犹未足. 新加坡报刊 (1986).
5. Blog - Migrant Workers • 游工
5. Blog - Migrant Workers • 游工
The ultimate solution – perhaps only imaginable in our dreams – is the recognition of all people as human beings: born equal, deserving equal dignity and rights. In the end, this is what Samsui Women was about.
My first “job” was as a night watcher, where we slept inside a local shop to deter thieves. Beneath the shop was a lodging house for migrants, people who came through with their goods, animals, and musical instruments. The neighing of horses and the quacking of ducks at night were the most calming sounds I ever heard, accompanying us through those dark, anxious nights. Some days I wanted to join the migrants, especially the street performers; their songs of the past were some of the best history lessons I ever received.
By the time I took my second “job” doing writing work, the migrant population had changed – from people moving through towns to laborers staying behind for odd jobs. One of my most enduring pieces was on the homecoming of migrant workers during the holiday seasons. The sheer number of people moving through the system overwhelmed transportation networks, and the prevailing commentary at the time placed the blame on the migrants. My work struck a sympathetic tone and took a harder look at the system driving migration. It drew on interviews with migrant women traveling home with small children, often crammed into trains for days without a seat. The experience ultimately led me to change directions – there is only so much human suffering one could bear witness to.
This journal on Samsui Women is the first time that I have returned to migration as a subject, one that has since become a global issue. The structural forces that produce such suffering remain as pressing as ever, and I am not nearer to offering the kind of help I once hoped to give. The ultimate solution – perhaps only imaginable in our dreams – is the recognition of all people as human beings: born equal, deserving equal dignity and rights. In the end, this is what Samsui Women was about.
我的第一份“工作”是守夜，睡在商店里以防小偷。商店底下是游动工人的居所，时常有人带着产品、家禽、和乐器住在那里。夜里的马啸、鸭鸣是黑暗、焦虑中令人宽慰的伴侣。有时我想成为游工的一员，尤其是演唱团——从他们的民歌里我学了不少历史知识。
当我开始第二份、写作的“工作”时，游工的性质已经改变。他们不再是从一地走到另一地，而是留在了城市里做零工。那时我做的最深入的一篇是关于游工节日返乡的经历。由于大量的人员走动，交通赶不上，整个系统承受不住。那时主流观点是责怪游工。我做的访谈比较独特，从游工的角度来，探讨的是社会体制的问题。那时我接触了不少贫困女工带着小孩回家，在拥挤的车里一站就是一两天。那段工作也改变了我的方向；毕竟人世间的凄凉不是那么容易承受。
本期的《红头巾》是从那以后我第一次重新回到游工这个话题，如今它已成全球关于移民的讨论。社会体制的问题没有解决，我也没有找到当年探索的答案。也许只是梦寐以求，但游工的问题最终只有一个解答：承认所有的人都是人：生而平等，理应享有同等的尊严与权利。归根到底，这就是当年《红头巾》给予的答案。
也许只是梦寐以求，但游工的问题最终只有一个解答：承认所有的人都是人：生而平等，理应享有同等的尊严与权利。归根到底，这就是《红头巾》给予的答案。
Appendix - Detailed Plot of Samsui Women
Appendix - Detailed Plot of Samsui Women
This following is a note taken while watching Samsui Women, provided for future references. We gave the main characters English names to preserve their semantic distinction. Chapter titles are ours.
View credit here
1. Early Days
1. Early Days
Dai Ah-Gui, hereafter “Cassia” for “Gui,” and Dai Ah-Xiu, “Grace” for “Xiu,” are two village girls from Samsui, China, in the 1930s. Grace is adopted by a local couple after being found by the roadside. Cassia, the third girl in her family, escapes infanticide and early marriage under the protection of her grandfather. The girls are good friends and help their families out, but poverty prevents them from going to school.
When Cassia is 14, a flood destroys her family’s food reserves. They take out a high-interest loan to send her to Singapore for work. She does odd jobs for four years before joining a group of Samsui women working in construction. Grace, who has run away from an arranged marriage, soon joins her. They live in a shared room with sisters Jin and Yin, “Gold” and “Silver,” along with their leader, Sister Ying, a middle-aged woman with a troubled teenage son. The women wear red bandanas as a sunshield and good-luck charm, alongside workers from other regions wearing blue bandanas. Their workdays are long, often from sunrise to sundown, with a single lunch break.
The women befriend Su Ah-Zhi, “Arthur” for “Zhi,” the grandson of a tofu restaurant owner, Mr. Su. Arthur is a truck driver and occasionally gives the women a free ride to work. He and Cassia fall in love. Cassia is illiterate and unable to write letters. Arthur offers to write a letter to her mother, but he can barely write himself and ends up drawing her messages with visual symbols. The neighbors mistake the letter for Arthur’s love letter to Cassia. Embarrassed by their jeers, Arthur tears the letter up angrily and even rejects Cassia’s apologies. Cassia begins teaching herself how to read and write.
The town hires a new policeman, Li Ah-Long, “Long.” Unlike the other policemen, Long refuses bribes and acts on principle. That principle leads him to arrest Sister Ying’s son, Ah-Bin, when he is caught stealing Grace’s earring. Despite pleas from Sister Ying and Grace herself, Long refuses to let Ah-Bin go. Ah-Bin faces years in prison.
On the day of the trial, Long takes the witness stand. His sympathy for Sister Ying overcomes his principles, and he equivocates, resulting in Ah-Bin’s release. Long is reprimanded at work but gains acceptance from Arthur and others, as well as Grace’s heart. Long and Grace fall in love. But upon learning that Long is the eldest of a poor family of thirteen children, Grace hesitates about committing to their relationship.
2. Coffee Girl and the Arranged Marriage
2. Coffee Girl and the Arranged Marriage
Despite the low pay, construction work is hard to come by, and the Samsui women often have to compete with the blue-bandana women for work. Their competition boils over when the blue bandanas, led by Ah-Rong, get into a big fight with the Gold and Silver sisters, crashing the scaffold and injuring the men on it. The women lose their jobs and have to pay the men’s hefty medical bills. With no jobs and no money, Grace, still underage, takes a job as a “coffee girl” [1] in a shop serving rich men. She is accosted by a powerful man, Brother Hua, who showers her with money and gifts. Hua’s connections with the police prevent Long from arresting him.
Long seeks help from Arthur to talk Grace out of her job. Not close to her, Arthur instead confronts the owner of the construction project. He breaks into the office and accuses management of depriving the hardworking women of their livelihood. The owner’s son, Zhuang Jr., a kind-hearted young man with tuberculosis, reinstates the women. Grace, however, refuses to return to the low-paying job and moves out to live with the other coffee girls.
At the threat of the matchmaker finding Cassia a husband, Arthur proposes and is readily accepted. They are to marry, but first Cassia has to write to her grandfather for his blessing. Not knowing enough words, it takes her days to write the letter. On the day she is to deliver it, she receives a letter from her grandfather informing her that he is gravely ill and has arranged a marriage for her as his final wish. Cassia is caught between honoring family tradition and following her own wishes. A sense of duty pushes her toward accepting the arranged marriage and calling off her relationship with Arthur. Crushed, Arthur leaves Singapore. The neighbors hold a marriage ceremony for Cassia without her husband.
Grace faces increasing harassment from Brother Hua at work. One day, no longer able to evade him, she goes with him and is forced into his room under the pretense of receiving a necklace. Grace tricks Hua into the washroom and escapes with the necklace. Enraged, Hua sends two hitmen after her. Their plan is overheard by Ah-Bin, who finds Long in time to save Grace. Hua then takes revenge on Long, who is severely injured in an attack. On a visit to Long’s home, Grace overhears his parents’ disparaging remarks about her moral failure as a coffee girl.
3. Grace Marries
3. Grace Marries
No longer safe returning to the coffee shop, Grace rejoins the Samsui women at the construction site. The women are sent to renovate the garden of the construction owner. Zhuang Jr.’s illness has progressed, and he is given just a year to live. With no heir, the Zhuangs are eager to arrange a marriage for their son, hoping that he might leave offspring. But matchmaking fails, as none of the women wants to marry a dying man.
Looking out the window, the young man tells his mother that he wishes he could be as healthy as the Samsui women. This gives his mother an idea. She eyes the two younger women, but news of Cassia’s marriage leads her to settle on Grace. Soon the matchmaker is sent to propose to Grace’s elder, Sister Ying. Unsure what to make of a proposal from such a great family, Grace asks for more time.
In a meeting with Long, Grace says she has not accepted Zhuang Jr.’s proposal because she loves Long. He takes her home, but his parents vehemently object, loudly telling him from behind a curtain that women like Grace are immoral and that they will never accept her. Heartbroken, Grace walks home alone and is attacked by Hua. As she runs away, she is hit by an oncoming car and momentarily loses consciousness. It is Zhuang Jr.’s car. He saves her and gives her a ride home.
The women soon fall into severe financial trouble. After Ah-Bin is expelled from school, Sister Ying borrows money from the other women to send him to an expensive school. But the construction foreman runs off with the women’s pay, leaving everyone in debt. Sister Ying soon discovers that her son has never gone to the new school. Her health begins to fail; she will die if not sent to the hospital.
To get money for Sister Ying, Grace goes to the Zhuangs to ask for an engagement fee, thereby accepting their proposal. Sister Ying recovers, and a date is picked for Grace and Zhuang Jr.’s wedding. But when Cassia goes to return the wedding acceptance, she finds out about Zhuang Jr.’s illness and takes the acceptance back. The women try to talk Grace out of the marriage. Realizing that Grace has been kept uninformed of his condition, Zhuang Jr. asks his parents to release her from the engagement.
Grace goes to the Zhuangs. Mr. Zhuang tells her that his son has only a year to live and could die at any time. He lets her keep the money and gifts and tells her that she can walk out and be free of the engagement. Hearing Zhuang Jr.’s coughing overwhelms Grace: memories of Long, the construction site, Hua’s threats, and her recent meeting with Zhuang Jr. She steps one foot out the door, then slowly pulls it back.
On Grace’s wedding day, Long, on patrol duty, escorts Grace and Zhuang Jr. to the wedding. After the guests leave, Zhuang Jr. moves to sleep alone in the study. He tells Grace it would be better for her to marry Long. Grace says she has moved on from her previous relationship and will never leave him. He embraces her.
Their wedding brings another piece of good news: Mr. Zhuang has secured his biggest construction project, contracted with the British government. The Samsui women begin to receive better pay. Sister Ying’s son Ah-Bin, however, becomes tangled in a gang fight and lands in prison. Daily beatings continue until he gains the other prisoners’ trust, drawing him deeper into criminal life. After his release, he steals metal from the Samsui women’s construction site, injuring the watchman. Unaware of the truth, Sister Ying arranges a marriage for Ah-Bin with a gentle young woman older than him, hoping to rein him in.
4. The Husband and His Concubine
4. The Husband and His Concubine
Arthur returns from a long time away, bringing a leased lorry to start a business. By then, Cassia’s grandfather has died. Soon, she begins receiving letters from her husband Er-Niu asking her for travel money to Singapore. When she falls short, Arthur sells his lorry to bring Er-Niu over. He helps clean up the unit Cassia rents as her home with Er-Niu.
Er-Niu arrives and causes a scene at the tofu house, accusing Mr. Su of serving him spoiled tofu, a trick that gets him another bowl for free. Cassia arrives only to discover that Er-Niu has brought a concubine, Ah-Jiao, “Gia,” and their infant son. Cassia settles them in the unit she has prepared but returns to live with the Samsui women, keeping the marriage on paper only.
With Grace’s help, Er-Niu gets a desk job with Mr. Zhuang, but he is soon fired for making mistakes. Cassia finds him work as a teacher, but he loses the job after slapping a student. With no income and being too lazy to work, Er-Niu and his family live off Cassia’s meager pay. Feeling entitled to more than her money, he forces himself on Cassia. She escapes and warns him that she will abandon his family if he disrespects her again.
Still trying to help, Cassia persuades the lorry owner to hire Er-Niu as Arthur’s helper. On a trip to a border town, Er-Niu takes money from a drug trafficker and hides a shipment of opioids in Arthur’s truck. The police discover the opioids, but Er-Niu slips away. Arthur narrowly escapes gunshots by jumping into a river, and the lorry is destroyed. The financial ruin that Er-Niu causes leaves Cassia in deep debt. She begins working as a cleaning lady at the coffee shop at night.
It is 1941. Despite British protection, Singapore is bombed by Japan. Mr. Zhuang’s project halts, and the Samsui women are sent to dig war tunnels. They soon lose their jobs when Britain abandons the defense. During a bombing incident, Grace, pregnant with Zhuang Jr.’s child, hides in a bunker with him. She miscarries after lifting a heavy log to help save a child. The couple hide the pregnancy loss from the older Zhuangs.
The Zhuangs arrange to leave for Indonesia. But locals fill the boat they have rented, leaving room only for Grace and Zhuang Jr. As the boat leaves the dock, Japanese bombers attack. The boat capsizes. Grace pulls the drowning Zhuang Jr. from the water. Unable to find a doctor, he dies after giving his final good wishes to Grace and his father.
5. Japanese Occupation
5. Japanese Occupation
In February 1942, Singapore falls to Japan. The Japanese begin rounding up former anti-Japanese forces with the help of a local informant, Mr. Luo. Luo has worked with Japan before; Long once caught him and sent him to prison. After the Japanese soldiers free Luo, he leads them to Long’s home, where they murder all fourteen members of his family. Long returns in time to learn from his dying brother that Luo is responsible.
Learning that the Samsui women dug tunnels for the British, the Japanese go after them. They capture Gold as the others go into hiding. Grace asks Mr. Zhuang to talk to Luo. With Luo’s help, they save Ah-Bin’s pregnant wife from being taken and exonerate the Samsui women. Grateful, Ah-Bin agrees to sell his unborn child to Grace. His wife, however, is distraught. She goes to ask Mrs. Zhuang not to adopt her baby. Mrs. Zhuang realizes that Grace has hidden her miscarriage. She orders Grace to leave.
With the money that Mr. Zhuang gives her, Grace opens a coffee shop. Enraged by the competition, her former boss sends hitmen to destroy her tables. Luo arrives with Japanese soldiers and takes the boss away. Grace thanks Luo with money and gifts. Admitting that many people hate him for collaborating with Japan, Luo tells Grace that he admires her courage. They begin a relationship.
Pressured by a large fee imposed by the Japanese, Mr. Zhuang tries to raise money, but he is arrested for past anti-Japanese activities. Mrs. Zhuang is killed during the arrest. After burying Mrs. Zhuang, Grace visits Mr. Zhuang in prison and then turns to Mr. Luo for help. Luo manages to secure Mr. Zhuang’s release. Mr. Zhuang promises to help Grace in the future.
Under Japanese occupation, food becomes scarce. Er-Niu learns that spent shells can be traded for food on the black market. He takes Gia to dig shells and brings home an enormous bomb. Trying to stop him from setting it off, Arthur ends up pinned by it. Japanese soldiers arrive and take Arthur to prison. He is freed with Luo’s help but returns home after receiving a severe beating. Cassia’s concern for Arthur sends Er-Niu into a jealous rage. Arthur fights Er-Niu after Cassia escapes another assault.
That evening, Arthur asks Cassia to leave Singapore with him. Still feeling bound by her marriage, Cassia refuses. Grace later finds a tearful Cassia and urges her to seek her true love. Late at night, Cassia decides to leave with Arthur. She packs and goes to his apartment, only to learn that he left an hour earlier. She sits and weeps at the bottom of the stairs.
With no jobs and no money, Sister Ying’s health worsens. A doctor warns Ah-Bin that without proper nutrition she may die within a year. In desperation, Ah-Bin robs an older woman of eggs, aggravating Sister Ying’s sorrow. While sitting in Grace’s coffee shop, Ah-Bin and Er-Niu notice a wealthy man showing jewelry to coffee girls. Ah-Bin joins two accomplices in a robbery; Er-Niu also goes to steal that night. The theft turns violent: the rich man wakes, and in the scuffle one accomplice kills him. The four escape with jewelry.
As Gia shows off the pork and goods bought with stolen money, suspicion grows. Cassia confronts Er-Niu, who tries to placate her with jewelry; she refuses. Gia then accuses Cassia of stealing her jewelry, but the women rally to Cassia’s defense. In her bitterness, Gia reveals to Sister Ying that Er-Niu’s money has come from Ah-Bin and that Ah-Bin has been involved in the death of the rich man. Sister Ying gathers the neighbors, summons Ah-Bin, and publicly denounces herself and him. She then severs their relationship.
Heartbroken, Ah-Bin gives his remaining money to his pregnant wife. Soon after, he joins Er-Niu and the two accomplices on a nighttime raid of Japanese goods. As Er-Niu lags behind, Ah-Bin returns to help him and is shot dead. The loss devastates his widow and mother. Still gravely ill, Sister Ying insists on returning to work to raise her grandson. She dies at the construction site at the age of 45. Cassia takes over the financial responsibility for Ah-Bin’s wife and son.
6. Japan Surrenders, Husbands Die
6. Japan Surrenders, Husbands Die
By 1945, Grace has married Mr. Luo, with the blue-bandana Ah-Rong as her housekeeper. Grace fires Ah-Rong after she steals food and goods from the household. After Grace refuses to give him money, Er-Niu forces Gia to work in Grace’s shop, where she meets a childhood friend, a sailor who admires her. Enraged by their dining together, Er-Niu goes to the restaurant again the next day, where he spots the two former accomplices. Fearing their revenge, he informs Mr. Luo that the men are anti-Japanese activists. Japanese soldiers go after them; one is killed. The other survives long enough to hunt Er-Niu down and kill him.
Soon after, news spreads that Japan has lost the war. As chaos breaks out and people raid shops, Mr. Luo tries to flee with Grace but is recognized and beaten to death. A mob then comes after Grace, led by her former coffee shop boss. The neighbors and Long prevent them from taking her.
Grace moves back to live with Cassia. Under Cassia’s urging, she returns to construction. There, she runs into Ah-Rong, now the third of three wives of the construction foreman, Brother Jun. The two women despise each other and fight frequently.
Outside of work, Grace rekindles her relationship with Long. Long, however, is already engaged to a young woman who saved his life during the war. After seeing Long with his fiancée, Grace confronts him while partially drunk and begs him not to leave her. They spend the night together. Long tries to break off his engagement to marry Grace. But convinced that he will be happier with the other woman, Grace refuses him. To end the relationship, she marries Brother Jun and becomes his fourth wife.
7. New Husbands
7. New Husbands
Arthur finally returns after years working on projects abroad. He delights the household with stories, souvenirs, and a medal for good work. News of Er-Niu’s death gives him a jolt of relief. To test Cassia, Arthur’s friends claim that Arthur has died and show her his medal, asking whether she would have married him. The grief-struck Cassia says yes. Arthur then reveals himself, and they resume their love.
Er-Niu’s death has left Gia in limbo. She tries to win Arthur, scheming repeatedly. But her attempts backfire, and after one humiliating incident, Gia leaves for Malaysia with her sailor friend, abandoning her son. Cassia becomes the boy’s mother. The boy’s mischievous behavior prevents Arthur from accepting him, and he becomes a major obstacle between Cassia and Arthur.
Arthur proposes again. Cassia agrees, but only if Arthur will adopt Gia’s son. Arthur resists because the boy reminds him of Er-Niu. Grace urges Cassia not to let Arthur go. Cassia finally acts: she dresses up, interrupts Arthur’s date, and makes clear she wants him. They marry without incident. At the wedding, Gia’s son reluctantly calls Arthur “Dada,” and the three form a family. A year later, they have a baby girl.
In the postwar years, Cassia’s work in construction advances. Not only has she learned to read and write and to use the abacus, but she has also accumulated significant construction knowledge. At the urging of Mr. Zhuang, she is given a lead role in several small projects. A larger project comes in, but she lacks the capital to secure it. Arthur sells his lorry to raise funds for the project. Cassia becomes highly successful, but their marriage strains as Arthur feels like a housewife in contrast to his wife’s success. After giving birth to a second daughter, Cassia gives up her career to allow Arthur to expand his transportation business.
8. Tragedies
8. Tragedies
Aunt Chai begins matchmaking for Gold and Silver. Gold resists, but Silver’s matchmaking is successful. Unwilling to leave her sister, Silver tries to negotiate living arrangements, but the man refuses to take her sister in. Gold says she will return to China once she saves enough. To help Gold with her trip, Silver overworks herself with night jobs. Exhausted, she falls from the scaffold at the construction site and dies in Gold’s arms. Gold then suffers another blow. A young banker gains her trust as a “godson,” then tricks her out of $700 of her hard-earned savings with a fake slip and disappears. She starts to mistake other Samsui women for her sister and sometimes forgets that Silver has died.
In Brother Jun’s household, the wives turn against Grace. They sabotage her bed and set her up for blame. Ah-Rong plants an old photo of Grace with Long and forges a love letter that appears recent, then prompts Jun to search Grace’s room. Jun discovers the items and beats Grace savagely. In revenge, Grace hires the former coffee shop owner, now a beggar, to act as Ah-Rong’s relative coming to Singapore to pass her inheritance to her. He gets Ah-Rong to wait in a hotel room. Brother Jun catches her in the hotel room meeting with a strange man; Ah-Rong, too, receives a savage beating.
Brother Jun’s gambling debt accumulates. Creditors come after him and break one of his legs. He embezzles work funds but still lacks money. Grace hints that Ah-Rong’s jewelry could help. Jun sends all four wives to the temple. Worried about her jewelry, Ah-Rong rushes home. She catches Jun stealing her jewelry and kills him in a rage. Ah-Rong comes after Grace and sends her down a flight of stairs. Grace tumbles into Cassia at the bottom. Cassia, pregnant with her third child, is rushed to the hospital. She loses the baby and can no longer have children. Arthur, devastated, blames Grace for the loss of his “only son,” after he has recently and reluctantly let Gia take his adopted son away.
Grace tries to apologize to Cassia and later visits Ah-Rong in prison, offering legal help. Ah-Rong rejects her, accusing Grace of trying to buy atonement and calling her cursed. With nowhere to go, Grace comes home with Cassia, but Arthur refuses to accept her. Neighbors attack Grace’s character until Cassia silences them and explains the circumstances that have driven Grace into her marriages and misfortunes. Arthur relents, but Grace has already left.
9. Grace’s Last Lifeline
9. Grace’s Last Lifeline
Disabled by her injury, Grace becomes homeless and lives on the streets, surviving with other homeless women and card games. One day, she runs into Mr. Zhuang, who asks how he can repay her for what she once did for his family. Grace refuses help for herself but asks him to help Cassia instead.
Mr. Zhuang meets Cassia and Arthur and asks Cassia to join him in a new project. Cassia declines, saying that she prefers to stay home. Mr. Zhuang then convinces Arthur to support Cassia’s career. With Arthur’s support, Cassia returns to construction with Mr. Zhuang. Their project becomes one of the first skyscrapers in Singapore, and Cassia continues to thrive in construction.
Gold goes to Silver’s grave to say goodbye. Cassia and Grace see Gold off as she returns to China. Cassia invites Grace to live with her, but Grace once again refuses. She runs into Long, now married with a daughter, during a fight among homeless women. She shows no recognition of him.
Grace remains withdrawn, but she loves Cassia’s children and grandchildren and often brings presents to them. Decades later, at a Samsui women reunion, Grace dies suddenly while playing with Cassia’s grandson nearby.
[Note 1] “Days Under the Sun” first appears when Grace goes to work at the coffee shop and Long comes to give her the earring, but stops short after seeing she is already wearing one. The song later appears in emotionally intense moments in later episodes.
Chapter Guide: 01 Samsui Women • 02 Plot • 03 Review • 04. Theme Songs • 05 Migrants
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