A collection of social commentaries by the outspoken the Long Yingtai, respected by people of all political persuasion. One of the articles directly questioned Chinese president Hu Jintao and inspired heated debate among Chinese intellectuals.

"Liu Shi nu and Yang Shi nu" (Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Yang) are two of four mid-length novels by Zhang Yihe. It portrays women prisoners Zhang spent time with when she herself was jailed. Liu Yueying was jailed for murdering and dismembering her abusive husband. Yang was jailed for murdering her husband whom she was forced to marry after she was raped and for committing adultery with the man she loved since childhood. The narrator is Zhang's alter ego,...

Four novellas by Zhang Ling, one of the best storytellers in contemporary Chinese literary world. Zhang is the bestselling novelist of Gold Mountain and Aftershocks. "Story from a summer", "Where those poetry hide", "The darkest night of life", and "Empty nest" are all about people who live their life according to what their family, friends and the society expected them to live. Those rules, and that cocoon suffocated them. And the way to become free...

The author has melted her own knowledge and research into a medium-length novel, describing the birth and degeneration of a man actor who performs as a female, in addition to the ingenuity and conservation of this art field, the bitterness and horror of acting such a role. 都說紅顏多薄命，這紅顏雖是在臺上扮的，但薄命卻跟著他下了臺。 　　袁秋華不怵女人，他怕男人。玩男旦的都是男人。京劇最有名的幾個男旦，不是也被某軍閥「請」到家裡脫下褲子嗎？理由只有一個：看看誰的屁股好看。據說張伯駒曾寫過一首詩，隱晦地提及此事。後來，這個屁股不大好看的藝人收到軍閥送的六千大洋支票。他當即退回：人再有名氣，也不可如此受辱。難怪有句口諺：「家有三斗糧，不進梨園行。」後來這個享有大名的京劇藝人，堅決不讓子女學戲。每逢祖上忌日，要在墳頭坐上很久且在日記裡歎道：「總思大哭一場，心中蘊藏積日之悲。」...

"Shang ge shi ji 40 nian dia, Guo Gong liang dan fa sheng ji lie chong tu. She hui shang ceng ren shi chu yu ai guo re cheng, ye wei tiao jie liang dang chong tu, jie cheng le Guo Gong liang dan yi wai de di san shi li, yao zou Guo Gong liang dang yi wai de zhong jian dao lu. Ren er, zhe xie 1949 nian hou liu zai Zhongguo de jin bu pai zheng zhi ren wu he zhi shi fen zi, man xin yi wai wei lai de dao lu tong xiang tian tang, da jia que mai zhe huan...