This collection of 17 short stories is like a small album of exquisite Chinese paintings.
Mostly quite pieces, they do not conform to the usual patterns.
*The Mountain Keeper** describes just that - a man who has to be on a mountain in case tourists need information! But it will take you to where he is and involve you althoguh nothing very radical will happen.
*Winter Worm Summer Weed** is about a place in China near Tibet where people survive by eating rats. Yet it is a charming little story!
*Beijing’s Slowest Elevator** almost has chapters. Yet it is quite artistically disconnected. You get to peek at the life of a woman working in a karaoke bar. Perhpas a prostitute? A relationship forms and breaks.
*Lovers in the Age of Indifference** is about a man who follows a woman - he appears dangerous but is baffled by the woman’s gentle rejection.
*Junk Mail** makes a tale out of that kind of email. We all get them: from Nigeria and god knows where!
*Then the Game Begins** is about adultery and Mah Jong. A bit decadent and full of atmosphere.
*Stateless** follows a man about whom we get to know almost nothing and he meets a little girl and we never learn anything about her either.
In **An Internet Baby** a very young girl gets pregnant but the couple is not ready for marriage - so what to do with the baby? China has massive overpopulation but there’s always someone who needs a baby.
*Heartbreak** is a cruel look at rejection. Somehow, when love ends for one partner, the other cannot get reconciled to that.
*Beijing Morning Star** brilliantly allows us to look at how editors tweak news stories. It will make you smile!
In **Into The World** a film script writer gets a servant boy. Loyal but uneducated he wants to be the champion of his master. He acts to ensure a reluctant paymaster apys up. But where does that leave him?
*Address Unknown** is, again, about heartbreak and how we go on trying long after the lover has disappeared from our life.
*The Third Tree**, similarly, traces such behaviour via sms.
In **Anywhere I Lay My Head** a woman successfully deceives her partner by meeting an old lover. The ease with which she does this for no reason leaves you feeling the bleakness of some choices in life.
*Letters To A City Of Illusion And Hope** is a set of love letters. But it’s also a doomed love.
In **Today I Decide To Die** the rejected lover makes the drastic choice.
Lastly, **Flower Of Solitude** is a retelling of a Chinese myth.
It is like a story writing workshop to read this set! You will understand that there are many unusual ways to tell a tale.