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| This Thriving Land Ending Recap & Review: A Heavy Goodbye for Yang Mi’s Xiuxiu |
Quick Recap of This Thriving Land Final Episode
The final stretch of This Thriving Land is bittersweet, showing the true cost of stubborn pride, generational trauma, and the unrelenting weight of survival in rural China.
Ning Xiuxiu (Yang Mi) suffers a tragic miscarriage, losing her and Feng Dajiao’s long-awaited first child.
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This loss shatters not just her body but the fragile bond she has with the Feng family. Feng Er, in particular, blames Xiuxiu for “overworking” and experimenting with planting medicinal herbs instead of focusing on grain. The family’s joy collapses into quiet resentment.
Meanwhile, her younger sister Ning Susu (Xing Fei) confronts their father Ning Xuexiang (Ni Dahong), crying that both he and she were selfish for never supporting Xiuxiu with food or care.
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If they had, perhaps the child would have lived. Yet, Xuexiang doesn’t regret withholding help — he dies later leaving wealth to his son but nothing to Xiuxiu, proving how deep his bitterness ran.
By the end, Xiuxiu lives a life of toil and regret. She raised children, lost most of them, and battled poverty, yet she never fully escaped the shadow of her family or her choices.
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Her late years are marked by illness, loneliness, and the unspoken truth that she had sacrificed too much in pursuit of pride and revenge.
Characters Wrapped
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Ning Xiuxiu (Yang Mi)
Once the rich daughter of Tianniu Temple Village, her stubborn vow to cut ties with her father defines her entire life. Though she sought freedom and dignity, her refusal to bend ultimately condemned her to hardship. She dies without reconciliation, her final words recalling her lost innocence. -
Feng Dajiao (Ou Hao)
“Big Foot Feng” embodies the hardworking peasant husband, but also small-mindedness. His lack of ambition and constant resentment of Xiuxiu’s “different ways” stop their marriage from ever being peaceful. Even at the end, his failure to provide real support leaves Xiuxiu carrying the burden alone. -
Ning Xuexiang (Ni Dahong)
The cold, calculating patriarch who prioritised land over his daughter’s life. His refusal to ransom Xiuxiu set the whole tragedy in motion. Even on his deathbed, he denied her inheritance. His heart hardened long ago, and he dies estranged from his daughter. -
Fei Zuoshi (Qin Hailu)
A woman of sharp survival instincts, Fei Zuoshi represents pragmatism. She runs the Fei household with an iron fist, showing that women in the village could wield power, but always at a cost. -
Ning Susu (Xing Fei)
Xiuxiu’s younger sister, torn between loyalty to her family and guilt towards her sister. She becomes the voice of conscience, acknowledging the cruelty Xiuxiu endured. -
The Villagers
Figures like Tie Tou, Du Chunlin, and others embody the collective struggles of rural life — bandits, war, famine, and feudal oppression. They mirror Xiuxiu’s personal downfall with the larger fate of the village.
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This Thriving Land Ending Explained: What It All Means
At its heart, This Thriving Land isn’t just Xiuxiu’s tragedy — it’s a story about how land and pride shape destiny. Xiuxiu’s refusal to reconcile with her father was an act of defiance, but it also chained her to a lifetime of hardship.
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Xiu Xiu believed she was proving her independence, yet in truth, she never escaped the structures of family, patriarchy, and feudal land obsession.
Her late life — filled with illness, grief, and regret — shows the price of bitterness. Xiuxiu’s sacrifices meant little in the end, as neither the Ning family nor the Feng family fully accepted her.
Even her own husband never truly trusted her purity until after her death.
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The ending forces viewers to reflect: was Xiuxiu noble for standing her ground, or was she ultimately self-destructive? By valuing face and stubborn pride over family reconciliation, she lost the warmth of kinship, comfort, and dignity in her final years.
It’s a painful but thought-provoking close: the land may thrive, but the people who fought for it often do not.
TLDR + Short Review
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Xiuxiu spends her life punishing her father by cutting ties, but ends up punishing herself even more.
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She loses her child, struggles in poverty, and dies in bitterness, never truly accepted by either family.
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The ending highlights the cruelty of pride and the human cost of rural survival.
Verdict: A heavy, slow-burning life drama with a gut-punch ending. Not a feel-good watch, but an honest and layered portrayal of women, land, and generational wounds.
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FAQs
Q: Is This Thriving Land based on a novel?
Yes, it’s adapted from Zhao Defa’s novel Qian Quan Yu Jue Jue (缱绻与决绝).
Q: Does Ning Xiuxiu reconcile with her father?
No. She remains estranged from Ning Xuexiang until his death, and even refuses to see her mother one last time.
Q: What happens to Feng Dajiao?
He grows increasingly resentful and lazy in later years, leaving Xiuxiu to shoulder the burdens. Only after her death does he fully realise she was innocent and wronged.
Q: Why is the ending considered tragic?
Because Xiuxiu’s sacrifices lead nowhere. She loses her children, her health, her dignity, and her ties with family. Her independence comes at the cost of isolation and hardship.
Q: What’s the main message?
That pride and bitterness, though powerful, can destroy the very person who wields them. Land and survival may define people, but compassion and reconciliation are what keep them whole.