In this novel, which runs to nearly 400 pages, Wang uses the story of an ordinary woman named Wang Qiyao to paint a portrait of Shanghai from the 1940s through the 1980s.
在三十萬字的《長恨歌》裡，王安憶藉著一個上海尋常的弄堂女兒王琦瑤，帶出四十年代到八十年代的上海。