In Ah, Blue Bird, Lu Xing'er, one of China's most prolific writers, focuses her penetrating gaze on the life of the educated urban youth during and after the Cultural Revolution. She studies the difficulty of coming of age at a time when even the most personal was political by examining both the hidden motivations and the public aspirations of those caught up in the politics of the day. This tale tells the story of a woman caught between duty to herself, to her country and to her husband. Her convictions are tested as she tries to survive in a complex emotional and physical climate when she finds herself separated from her husband and forced to make difficult decisions about their future together.