This lyric, engrossing contemporary Chinese novel spans three generations' intertwined life experiences and their distinctive ideologies: Kazan, a girl born and raised in Tibet and her loyal, valiant mastiff Jinmei; Jiansheng and Xinhe, a couple of kindhearted, successful young artists living in Beijing; and Tong Suqing and Jian Weidong, two innocent intellectuals who endured the Educated Youth frenzy in the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution era. With Qi Jinnian's masterful touch, the book describes how individuals' lives can be tragically affected by their particular historical...