Yu Huas populist voice and exquisite wit have made him one of the most celebrated and bestselling writers in China. These visceral, flawlessly crafted stories explore the line between cruelty and warmth on which his country is precariously balanced.

In the title story, a shopkeeper confronts a child thief and punishes him without mercy. Victory shows a young couple shaken by the husbands infidelity, each scrambling to stake claims to the components of their shared life.Other tales show, by turns, two factory workers who spoil their only son, a gang of townsfolk who bully an innocent orphan, and a spectacular fistfight outside a refinery bathhouse. Taken together, these stories form a snapshot of a nation, lit with the deep feeling and ready humor that characterize its people. A sensation in Asia, affirms Yu Huas place at the very forefront of literary fiction.