It means that life is a "siege" everywhere, with knots and separations, separations and knots, no ending, and eternal confusion and dilemma. It not only refers to Fang Hongjian's marriage, but also refers to certain sad factors in human nature, which are dissatisfaction with one's own situation.

"The people surrounding the city want to escape, and the people outside the city want to rush in" comes from Qian Zhongshu's "The Besieged City".

"Fortress Besieged" contains profound ideological connotations. The first is the level of social criticism. Through the life course of the protagonist Fang Hongjian, the work criticizes the current political ills and human beings in the Kuomintang-controlled areas in the 1930s and 1940s, including the corruption and depravity of Shanghai's maritime commercial port, the backwardness and occlusion of the inland rural areas, and the education and knowledge circles. corruption in the world.

The second is the level of cultural criticism. This is mainly achieved through the description of "New Confucianism" and the shaping of the image of a group of returned overseas students or senior intellectuals.

Extended information

The story of the siege took place from the 1920s to the 1940s. The protagonist Fang Hongjian is a young man who comes from a gentry family in southern China. Due to family pressure, he becomes engaged to a girl from the Zhou family of his hometown. But while he was in college, Zhou fell ill and died early. Mr. Zhou, his father-in-law-to-be, was moved by the condolence message written by Fang and sponsored him to study abroad.

While Fang Hongjian was studying in Europe, he ignored his studies. In order to give an explanation to his family, Fang purchased a doctoral degree certificate from the fictional "Clayden University" before graduation and returned to China with the students who had studied abroad. On the ship, he met and fell in love with Miss Bao, an international student, but was deceived by Miss Bao. At the same time, I also met Su Wenwan, a college classmate.

After arriving in Shanghai, he worked in the bank founded by his late fiancee's father, Mr. Zhou. At this time, Fang gained the favor of his classmate Su Wenwan, and fell in love at first sight with Su's cousin Tang Xiaofu. He spent all day dealing with Su and Tang, and during this period he met Zhao Xinmei, who was pursuing Su Wenwan. Fang's relationship with Su and Tang finally ended. Su married the poet Cao Yuanlang, while Zhao also understood that Fang was not his love rival, and they cherished each other since then. Fang Hongjian gradually fell into discord with the Zhou family.

When the Anti-Japanese War began, the Fang family fled to the concession in Shanghai. Under Zhao Xinmei's recommendation, he went to Sanlv University in the mainland to teach with Zhao Xinmei, Sun Roujia, Gu Erqian, and Li Meiting. Due to Fang Hongjian's weaknesses in personality and other aspects, he fell into complex interpersonal disputes. Later, he got engaged to Sun Roujia, and left Sanlv University and returned to Shanghai. With Zhao Xinmei's help, Fang Hongjian worked in a newspaper and married Sun Roujia.

After the marriage, the conflicts between Fang Hongjian and his wife and the Fang family and Sun Roujia's aunt's family were exposed and intensified. Fang Hongjian resigned and had a quarrel with Sun Roujia, gradually losing hope in life.