Love in a Fallen City

One of the dominant symbols in Love in a Fallen City is the moon. It primarily symbolizes feelings of desire and the Instability of Sexual Desire, Romance, and Marriage. For example, in the novella “Aloeswood Incense,” the first time Weilong walks away from her aunt’s house, “a crescent moon appear[s] […] and as she walk[s] the moon seem[s] to grow whiter and more translucent” (23). This symbolizes the dawning of the romantic love with George. When she meets George for the first time, the moon is again present, this time “like the scorch mark left on a jade-green satin when a burning ash of incense falls into someone’s needlework” (42). When George comes to visit her at night, the moon is shining. Finally, when Weilong comes to terms with the destructive, toxic nature of her relationship with George, the fireworks thrown at her “[race] like meteors toward the moon” (76), symbolizing the ultimate destruction of her desire. The different phases of the moon demonstrate the passage of time and the way Weilong’s desires grow and change over that period.

Similarly, when Chaunqing in “Jasmine Tea” runs away from Danzhu, “the moon shin[es] on row upon row of stone steps that [prance] boldly before his eyes” (107).