Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

the long version

The novel, written by Dai Sijie, is about two teenagers, Luo and Mae (referred to as the narrator throughout the novel), who are sent to be reeducated in the wake of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. They are sent to the Mountain of the Phoenix of the Sky near Tibet, because their doctor parents have been declared "enemies of the people" and "reactionaries of the bourgeoisie" by the Communist state. There, while compelled to work in the coal mines and with the rice crop, they are captivated by an