In the 1990s, as China continues to embrace—and grapple with—the global market economy, Qiu Shui and his friends attend med school, an ambition that has more to do with getting out of the country than with actually becoming doctors. Following the exploits of a young student and his classmates, from drinking binges, sex, and playing video games all night to military training, homework, and college-age high jinks, Beijing, Beijing provides an inventive, hilarious, and incisive look into how a culture—and one man—struggle to reconcile their past with the changes brought by modern times. As the years pass and friends, family, and lovers move on, Qiu Shui confronts the loneliness and confusion that define his generation.

Translated by: Michelle Deeter