Beneath the Catalpa Tree

A lightning strike at a rural middle school in northern Jiangxi, and the memories of hunger carried by an examinee from Inner Mongolia: the scars of two generations are woven into a suspenseful tale. Objects such as a copper bell, a detonator, and piano keys hold the memories of history, while the relay of three generations of teachers hints at how knowledge can pierce the iron curtain of its age. Like the catalpa tree, carved with the word "wronged" yet still growing tenaciously, it continues to shelter a new generation of young people forty years later.