Publisher's Synopsis
Beijing-based writer Lin Zhe s novel Waipode Gucheng, on which this translation is faithfully based, paints an unforgettable picture of an ordinary family caught up in the maelstrom that was China s most recent century. Her narrative ranges across the entire length of China, to California and back again, to the battlefields of the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance and the brutal struggle sessions of the Cultural Revolution. But it always returns to this family s home in Old Town, that archetypical, old-fashioned, and vanishing place steeped in the traditions of South China. Ms. Lin examines the inner strength that sustains people s lives in their darkest hours, when religious and political faith falter. And yet, a vein of irony and droll humor runs through this powerful story. Lin Zhe s novel may be understood as a love story, memoir, history, or allegory. For the non-Chinese reader it provides a rare and moving insight into Chinese lives in a century of fearsome upheaval."
