The Fork in the Silk Road

SYNOPSIS. An American family establishes a textile business in Shanghai in the year 1933. Japan has amassed its forces in Manchuria in preparation for the invasion of China. The story spans five decades of accurate history - spiced with murder, betrayal, revenge, and the thread of an enduring love.New York 1933.Ruben Stone, with his seventeen-year-old son Charles, arrive in Shanghai on the eve of both a civil war and Japanese incursion - determined to establish a successful trading company. They settle into a luxurious cottage within the exotic Anglo - International Settlement.Longing for the respect denied half-breeds, the beautiful Eurasian, Apricot Cort, seeks the security that can only be provided by a Caucasian husband, and joins the Stone's new company. The young Korean genius, Bo Han, also joins the Stones, intent on fulfilling his own fantasies of grandeur. Young Charles soon falls desperately in love with Apricot, only to be tormented by her preference for his father.The Stone's align their business interests with the Warlord, Chin Wan, who assures their young company of a continuous supply of raw silk.Japan's army destroys Shanghai with the exception of the Warlord's weaving factory. In the face of an ongoing war, the Warlord increases his production without the benefit of additional laborers. Charles and Bo Han visit the Warlord's factory and witness the ancient Chinese art of Szu Hasing. Bo Han is enthralled with the concept of a mind-altering program that empowers laborers to work double shifts. Charles is repelled by it.America's declaration of war, following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, strips the Stones of their neutrality. With the world engulfed in war, the universal demand for the diminishing supply of Chinese silk textiles soars. The Warlord miraculously maintains his production, enabling the Stones to reap enormous profits. The business community flees Shanghai for the relative safety of Hong Kong. Seduced by their great success, Ruben and Charles greedily elect to stay.Ruben is killed in the Japanese bombing of Shanghai. Apricot turns to a maturing Charles. Both are unaware that their friend, Bo Han, also desires Apricot and considers Charles expendable.Apricot, Charles, and Bo Han vacate the Shanghai office for the relative safety of the International Settlement. The Settlement soon falls under the command of Captain Hayashi of the Imperial Japanese Army. The Captain is intrigued by Bo Han's understanding of Szu Hasing, and agrees to spare Apricot and Charles in return for his knowledge of thought reform.As World War ll draws to an end, Apricot and Charles flee Shanghai before the advancing Chinese Communist Army, for the presumed safety of Hong Kong. Not wishing to add to Charles worries, Apricot does not tell him she is pregnant. Unwilling to risk the life of her unborn child, she tricks Charles into swimming the narrow bay that separates Hong Kong from mainland China, alone, and is soon committed to a Communist work camp. Captain Hayashi and Bo Han flee China for Japan. After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Bo Han returns to his ancestral home in Seoul, only to find himself, five years later, caught in the Korean Civil War. He learns that North Korea, desperate for a formidable weapon, has revived the art of Szu Hasing. (brain washing) Bo Han carefully incorporates their methods into what he has already learned from the Warlord.Nine years pass before Apricot manages to smuggle her daughter to Seoul Korea, and to Bo Han, who is in the midst of establishing his international cult. (Moonies) Bo Han refuses to pay the ransom that would rescue Apricot.Civilian Hayashi develops his small commercial business, into Japan's largest trading company.The civil war leaves South Korea victorious but devastated. Bo Han transforms his seemingly benevolent orphanage into an international cult of profitable children's communes.