≡ Phoenix of the Sky ≡

During the Cultural Revolution in China, two teenagers from a big city, Luo and the narrator, are sent to the rural Yong Jing near Phoenix Mountain. Coming from an educated background, the boys are to be reeducated by the poor peasants of the area. They are forced to work very difficult manual labor, working to a point in the mines where Luo contracts Malaria. Because their parents are enemies of the state, he is given an infinitesimally small chance to return to their homes.

picture from: http://people.whitman.edu/~yancey/sunset06.JPG