If it had a point then I missed it. This is a story of a young man in China in the late 80s. He is studying to be a scholar and then his professor and future father-in-law becomes ill. The rantings of the ill professor make the young man reconsider his life. The story ties into the events at Tiananmen Square in 1989.

It took a long time for this story to get at all interesting and then the end left me mystified as the the point of the story. I don’t recommend this, but I welcome other perspectives because it’s entirely possible I just missed the point.