The Grandson of Chen Sheng

The incredible life of a rough country boy. An old man in tattered clothes squatted on a birch stump in front of a dilapidated house. He took a sip of homemade liquor, puffed on a harsh green toad-brand dry pipe, and narrowed his eyes at the sunset about to sink behind the Changbai Mountains. Then he said to a little boy of about six or seven, playing beside him with a black and a white mongrel: "A Shu, the beast a Northeast tiger fears most isn't the thick-skinned black bear, nor the 600-jin boar king. It's the mountain dog that goes up into the hills." Many years later, the old man lay in an unremarkable grave. The boy, who had survived the blizzard's freezing winds and the villagers of Zhangjiazhai whispering and turning their backs on him, finally left the mountains and went to the city. Like a mad dog in the mountains, he had bitten, knelt, and bowed his head, and so he earned his glory. His grandfather was like an old tortoise, dying without a name. His elder brother was like a hungry hawk, taking on the North. His father was like a lean tiger, facing east toward Jieshi. Can this common man, scraping by on a meager living, fight his way to a life of glory and prosperity?

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.