AustLit

'Ming survived the famine that killed his parents during China's 'Great Leap Forward', and lives a hard but adequate life, working in the fields with his fellow villagers...When a group of city boys come to the village as part of a government re-education program, Ming and his friends aren't sure what to make of the new arrivals. They're intellectuals not used to hard labour and village life. But despite his reservations, Ming befriends a charming city boy called Li. The two couldn't be more different, but slowly they form a bond over evening swims and dreamlike discussions...But as the bitterness of life under the Party begins to take its toll on both boys, they begin to imagine the impossible: freedom.' (Publication summary)