These are true stories about five men at the bottom of society in the rural China of the 1960s. Laiwang, a kind and hardworking man who ultimately died on the road while working, stands in stark contrast to Dayou, who was lazy his whole life and died of illness. They represent two extremes of human nature! Though the men in this book have different personalities and make different choices, they all share the hardship, helplessness, endurance, and struggle of ordinary rural people trying to survive in the face of reality...
