6 Tanyin Alley Author:Zongren Liu, Liu Zongren With unsparing honesty, Liu Zongren paints touching and frightening pictures of the poverty of the Beijing of his boyhood and the struggles of the People's Republic to build a nation. He speaks frankly of China's problems: the harsh legacy of the Cultural Revolution, corruption in government, and traditional authoritarianism. He also speaks with... more » cautious hope for China's future.
No journalistic reports by outsiders could hope to provide a more vivid sense of what the average Beijing resident has experienced in the past forty years.
Realistic though it is, this novel is also suffused with the same humor that made Liu's Two Years in the Melting Pot so popular. Despite the brutal and bitter experiences of his times, Zongren amazes us with descriptions of the gentleness and solidarity at the core of human relationships.« less