The "Sinking Era" is the gravity of an era, pointing to the collective downward fate, class sinking, and spiritual decline in industrial transformation. The "buoys" are the characters in the story - Cheng Ye, Jiang Xiaoman, Chen Dachuan, and Lin Zhiyi. They are markers thrown into this turbid water. They cannot sink or float far, but they always send out weak signals in the darkness.
