Cornmeal in the Heart

Set in Bahe Village, Beijing, this novel follows the changing lives of the Zhao Dehou family over the thirty years from 1949 to 1978. With the image “As long as the cooking pot is here, the family is still together” at its heart, the family’s ups and downs reflect the history of rural China, from land reform and collectivization to the Great Leap Forward, the People’s Communes, the difficult years, the Cultural Revolution, and the eve of reform and opening up.