synopsis :
in this cultural exploration , a chinese american computer engineer named fang ( peter wang ) decides to take a month - long vacation to visit his sister mrs .
chao ( shen guanglan ) , her husband mr .
chao ( hy xiaoguang ) , and their teenage daughter lili ( li qinqin ) in beijing after 30 years of separation .
fang brings his asian american wife grace ( sharon iwai ) and his college - aged son paul ( kelvin han yee ) along , both of whom do n't speak chinese .
the encounter between the two families allows the audience to compare the eastern and western cultures as well as the ambitions of individual characters .
opinion : sometimes a film is plot driven .
sometimes it 's a character sketch .
a great wall ( 1986 ) can be called a culture sketch , as opposed to a character sketch because it gently compares a chinese american family to a beijing family .
fang 's family is thoroughly americanized .
fang is an upper middle class professional who enjoys jogging and argues with his boss .
his wife ca n't cook chinese .
his son has a white girlfriend and complains of racism when fang encourages him to befriend an asian girl .
meanwhile fang 's beijing sister advocates absolute loyalty to the ' work unit . '
her husband is a retired official who has heard rumors of american depravity ( homosexuals running the streets ) , and her daughter lili longs for american freedoms in a youth culture where studying for college entrance exams is the most important thing in life .
the two families spend a month slowly learning about each other .
there is no ultimate ' answer ' or final comprehensive understanding after the month - long vacation .
the film is neither here nor there ; it 's a neutral , meandering , gentle , portrait of life on both sides .