Shanghai Triad takes place in Shanghai in which a country boy moves over to Shanghai with his uncle and joins a gang organization.

At the beginning, the country boy was unaware of what he was getting himself into. Perhaps the first time he might have gotten a sense of what he was he was getting himself into was when he went to an empty building with his uncle, where he heard gunfire. However, it is more probable that he was confused of the environment.

Later, when he went to the gang headquarters, he was assigned to become the gang’s mistress’s servant. Afterwards, he has been directed to a hallway in which he first saw the gang leader. It was there that he learned that the gang leader only hired those with the Tang family name. I think this is particularly striking because it represents the importance that the Chinese puts on the family name, if the gang leader would only trust the people with the Tang family name. 

Later on, there has been a gunfire within the gang headquarters itself, in which the country boy’s uncle died. This is an important turn of events, because this is when the country boy starts wishing for revenge towards the opposing faction. This event has also led to a new scene, in which four gang members, including the leader, mistress, and country boy, moves over to an island where only one widowed women and her daughter lived. 

Eventually, the people starting to learn too much about the gang leader’s shady side, including the country boy. As a result, the gang leader killed the widowed woman’s loved one, the widowed woman, a man from an opposing faction, and the mistress. However he spared the country boy’s life. I think this was due to the loyalty he displayed, even when he disliked someone. For instance, even though the country boy disliked the mistress, he still remained loyal to her and even attempted to

protect her when she was about to get killed. As a result, the gang leader likely saw the boy as a potentially valuable asset.