BANYAN VEIL

In post-war Macau, Portuguese colonial ideals clash with Confucian and Maoist philosophy. Calamitous events across the border mould everyday lives in this unique society, keeping its inhabitants in suspense as to where new developments in mother China will take them, whilst providing a steady stream of starved refugees, victim of ever more desperate social experiments. Yip grows up on Macau’s rough streets, having arrived with his family as a KMT refugee. Excluded both from local Macanese and Maoist society, he finds himself in the clutch of the Triads who control much of the economy. He seeks his own refuge in justifying his choice with Confucian philosophy. Estrela on the other hand is handed every privilege, including an education at a top American university. Their destinies shouldn’t have met, but fate knew otherwise. The two meet at an early age and fate twists its ruthless touch upon each other, like the dragon scaling its pole, leading to a crisis that can only have one end.