Stories from Building 18

In 1994, fresh out of college, I move into Room 305 of a dilapidated apartment block and meet all kinds of neighbors: Zhang Jianjun and his wife, caring but weighed down by life; Lin Feifei, the mysterious, stunning woman in Room 304; and Grandpa Zhou, a retired teacher. In this old building, soon to be left behind by the times, I record the ups and downs of ordinary life. When Lin Feifei’s job at a nightclub is exposed, when a workplace accident involving Zhang Jianjun lays bare the cracks in his marriage, and when a demolition notice shatters the peace, my neighbors and I face partings, new beginnings, and redemption together. The elusive feelings between Lin Feifei and me, too, reach a fate-like conclusion before the apartment block collapses. A heartfelt portrait of everyday life in the 1990s, this is the story of ordinary people swept along by the tide of the times, acting out life’s truest joys and sorrows in the narrow hallways of a cramped old building.