Dance of Passion

The entire series revolves around the lives of two clans: the Yim clan (閻族) and the Sung Clan (宋族), in the Loess Plateau area of the Shanbei region during the Republican era.In a time before the series, a plague swept through the area where the Yim clan lives, pushing the clan to near extinction. However, the Sung clan arrived and taught the Yim clan to use gunpowder to ward off the plague. Later, after the disease was eradicated, the Sung clan taught the Yim clan the art of making fireworks and firecrackers, and this brought the Yim clan a new level of prosperity. In gratitude, the Yim clan elders of the time issued an edict, ordering the entire Yim clan and their descendants to care for all members of the Sung clan from cradle to grave, with no exceptions.This edict is the foundation of the conflict central to the series. By the time of the series, the Sung clan is a shadow of its former self, with no brilliant or prominent clansmen of significant accomplishment. As a result, the entire Sung clan has become reliant on the care of the Yim clan. This has caused the Yim clan to perceive the Sung clan as parasites. The series focuses on the rivalries between these two formerly harmonious clans, and the efforts by the Yim clan to remove the Sung clan from their settlement. This, in addition to the intra-clan rivalries in the Sung and the Yim clans, and the constant threat from a group of bandits known as the Horseback Bandits (馬賊), set the tone of the entire series.