Shanghai, November 1937. Yaya, the eight-year-old daughter of a diamondmerchant, lives a life of luxury in the French Concession in Shanghai. Her onegreat passion is the piano. While she is preparing for an important audition,her father decides that the family must leave town in the face of the imminentJapanese invasion. The evening before all the family is to leave, stubborn Yaya,unaware of the danger, runs away in an attempt to make it to her audition comewhat may. On the way, in the midst of the crowd fleeing the Japanese offensive,She is caught in a bombardment. She owes her life to Tuduo, a street urchin whodiscovers her unconscious in the ruins of a house. With his help, Yaya learnsthat her family fled for Hong Kong without her, and she determines to go jointhem there right away. Tuduo begins to dream about what his life would be likeif Yaya’s parents welcomed him and his little brother into their beautifulhome. He decides to go along with Yaya on her long and perilous journey. Butbefore he can do anything, he must escape from the clutches of Zhu, who runs agang of homeless boys. When Zhu learns that Tuduo’s littleprotégée is from a very wealthy family, he comes up with aMachiavellian plot to kidnap her and collect a ransom. Tuduo and Yaya barelymanage to get away and head off for the south. But Zhu, a heartless outlaw,doesn’t give up so easily and comes after them, driven by his high hopesof cashing in on the ransom scheme. This nine-volume series chronicles theirlong journey fraught with perils. The children meet all sorts of people, bothfriendly and wicked, as they travel toward Hong Kong. Yaya and Tuduo aredifferent in every way: social background, character, dreams, and desires. Thesechildren learn many growing lessons along the way, not the least of which is tojudge a person on their character, not their social or financial status. Thegloom of war, its absurd tragedy, gives way to the incredible capacity of youthto overwhelm grim reality. Imagination is the only thing these children have todefend themselves against adults who are like the ogres, evil fairies, or goodwitches of bedtime tales. Their imagination gives the story a touch of poetry,while humor brings a lighter touch to a story that is steeped in genuinehistorical tragedy.

Visual artist(s): Golo Zhao, Patrick Marty