The novel shifts again in this new section, first to describe a moment in China during the ninth century, when the northern part of the country is invaded by Mongols. Rather than stay, a group of villagers decides to migrate south. After many tribulations, they arrive in an area to the far south and take up residence, intending to drive out the locals. When this proves impossible, the newcomers become farmers in the surrounding hill region while the original inhabitants remain in the valley below.

For during a period of almost a thousand years these two contrasting bodies of people lived side by side with practically no friendly contact. The Hakka lived in the highlands and farmed; the Punti lived in the lowlands and established an urban life (600).

After this 1,000-year period, in the 1860s, a Punti man named Chun Fat returns to China from America and impresses the villagers with the fortune that he has made there. Soon afterward, an American comes to the valley looking for men to work on sugar plantations in Hawaii. This is none other than the former missionary Dr. Whipple, now in his 60s. The enterprising Chun Fat negotiates the transfer of 300 laborers.