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The novel is set in Gemin, a village of Baima people at the junction of Sichuan and Gansu in the 1930s. Gemin is an enclave, adjacent to Jiuzhaigou Valley. The people are as beautiful as the mountains and rivers, and the story unfolds like mountain flowers... But the war followed, and Gemin, this paradise, was not immune. From the perspective of a traveler who escaped from the city, the author describes the simple folk customs and natural living conditions of the Baima people's villages, and also depicts the living conditions of ordinary people during the war.

When the "5.12" Wenchuan earthquake occurred, I was in Pingwu County, Sichuan. Since the earthquake propagated along the Longmenshan fault zone in a linear direction to the northeast, only buildings in Pingwu County, fifty kilometers away from the fault zone, were damaged. Fortunately, there were no casualties. In the early morning of the next day, it was learned that Wenchuan, Dujiangyan, Mianzhu, Shifang, Beichuan, Qingchuan and other counties and cities were severely damaged, resulting in heavy casualties. Especially Beichuan County, which was razed to the ground and tens of thousands of people were buried. On the morning of the 13th, we learned that Pingtong, Nanba, Shikan, Shuiguan and other places in Pingwu County had also suffered devastating earthquakes. All primary and secondary school teaching buildings collapsed, causing more than half of the casualties. During the few days after the earthquake in the county seat, I felt deeply uneasy and ashamed that I could not witness the severe disaster in person. On May 17, I rented a car with the refugees to Gaozhuangba and walked for two hours to Nanba. Nanba is a town on the Longmenshan fault zone and was also the famous Jiangyou Pass during the Three Kingdoms period.