'One of the masters of modern Chinese literature' Jung Chang

A searing novel that traces the destruction of a community in communist China.

Told through the eyes of Xiao Qiang, a young boy, this deeply moving novel shares the tragic story of the blood-contamination scandal in China's Henan province.

Looking for a way to lift Ding Village from poverty, its directors and organisers open blood-plasma collection stations, hoping to sell the plasma to those in need. At first the scheme is a commercial success. Soon, however, whole communities are wiped out after contracting HIV. As Xiao narrates the fate of Ding Village, his family is torn apart by suspicion and retribution.

'The defining work of his career... A devastating critique of China's runaway development' Guardian

One of China's most successful fiction writers * New York Times *
One of China's greatest living authors and fiercest satirists * Guardian *
Yan Lianke denounces an alarming situation...his novel is a true revelation * Rolling Stone *
A sorrowful but captivating novel about the price of progress in modern China... Resonates with the impact of Greek tragedy or Shakespearean drama * Kirkus Reviews *

Yan Lianke is the author of works including Dream of Ding Village, The Day the Sun Died, The Four Books, Three Brothers and Hard Like Water. He has been awarded the Newman Prize for Chinese Literature, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Royal Society of Literature International Writer Lifetime Award, and was twice a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize. He has received two of China’s most prestigious literary honors, the Lu Xun Prize and the Lao She Award. He was born in 1958 in Henan Province, China.