Two Barrels of Oil for a Small Building

The work is set in the chaotic years of the Republic of China in 1948, with dual spaces of Shanghai and Yancheng in northern Jiangsu. It tells the story of Song Shouyi, a lower-class worker who returned to his hometown to fulfill his filial piety. He gave up the brick and wood building he had worked for half his life in exchange for only two barrels of rapeseed oil and rations, and returned with his wife and daughter from the prosperous city to the barren countryside. The novel uses family memories as the narrative foundation, uses the fate of small characters to reflect the turmoil of the great times, and focuses on the violent collision between traditional filial piety, the cost of family ties, individual choices and the historical torrent.