Carolyn Choa and David Su Li-Qun have brought together in one volume pieces by some of the most radical and popular contemporary Chinese writers. Variously funny, moving, wistful and shocking, these stories will touch and entertain their readers and provide an extraordinary insight into a fascinating and changing culture.

‘This collection of stories, mostly written since the death of Mao, is a fount of beautifully translated storytelling that veers between the wistfully romantic and the downright angry’ Steven Poole, Guardian

‘One of the most striking themes of this enjoyable and fascinating collection involves the courage of seemingly docile and unassuming people in daring to challenge the authorities . . . An exceptional glimpse of the domestic life about which most of the West still knows very little’ Caroline Moorhead, Literary Review

‘It is both the excitement and the difficulty of this collection that everything becomes a fable. The collection is an exhilarating glimpse into another all too human world’ Peter Arnott, Herald

‘The stories in the Picador collection attest the move from social conformity. In Liu Xinwu’s story “Black Walls”, written in 1982, a gentle humour and a call for humanism merge’ Olivier Burckhardt, Independent on Sunday