An Ordinary Person's Lament Amid the Tide of the Times

Set in Beichun, an old industrial city in Northeast China, this story follows three families and two generations as they struggle and fall into ruin amid three decades of change. Through real-world issues such as the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, waves of layoffs, the real estate bubble, and difficulties in education and healthcare, it portrays the helplessness and resilience of ordinary people crushed by fate. Every character wanders through the gray areas of human nature, and every choice they make bears the mark of the times and the helplessness of the individual. In the end, they are all swept into a vortex of fate from which there is no escape.

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