Wan has come to Beijing to take care of his professor and soon-to-be father-in-law, who has suffered a stroke. When he becomes involved with the Tian'anmen protests, he doesn't do so out of sense of idealism, dream of democracy, or desire to save the nation and its people, but to prove to his fiancee that he isn't a coward and to break free of the cocoon that binds him.
萬堅來到北京，主要是為了照顧中風的指導教授兼準岳父楊教授，他鬼使神差的「挺進」天安門，沒有堂皇的目的或民主自由之夢，也沒有救國救民之心，純粹是為了向未婚妻證明自己不是個懦夫，以及「想在束縛我的繭上戳開一個洞」。