An old banyan tree still thriving in the center of Huoshan Park, once known as Wayside Park, appears in Someday We Will Fly, including a moment when the tree reminds Lillia of the fleeting nature of human life compared to the hundreds of years that tree has witnessed.

"Many of the objects and sites that dazzled me most in Shanghai were those that remained largely unchanged, in spite of the vast, almost totalizing transformations having happened around them. Of course the majestic banyan tree is one such example, and Lillia realizes it will outlast her, which is both scary and reassuring," DeWoskin said.