The first collection of short stories to be published from the
bestselling Chinese author of Raise the Red Lantern Set during the
fall-out of the Cultural Revolution, these bizarre and delicate stories
capture the collision of the old China of vanished dynasties with
communism and today's tiger economy. The mad woman on the bridge wears a
historical gown which she refuses to take off. In the height of summer
she stands madly on the bridge, until a young female doctor, bewitched
by the beauty of the mad woman's dress, plots to take it from her, with
tragic consequences. From the folklorist who becomes the victim of his
own rural research, to the doctor whose infertility treatment brings
about the birth of a monster child, to a young thief who steals a red
train only to have it stolen from him, Su Tong's stories are a scorching
look at humanity.