Ma Jian Book order (chronological)

Meili, a young peasant woman born in the remote heart of China, is married to Kongzi, a village school teacher, and a distant descendant of Confucius. They have a daughter, but desperate for a son to carry on his illustrious family line, Kongzi gets Meili pregnant again without waiting for official permission. When family planning officers storm the village to arrest violators of the population control policy, mother, father and daughter escape to the Yangtze River and begin a fugitive life. For years they drift south through the poisoned waterways and ruined landscapes of China, picking up work as they go along, scavenging for necessities and flying from police detection. As Meili’s body continues to be invaded by her husband and assaulted by the state, she fights to regain control of her fate and that of her unborn child.

Awakening after a decade of unconsciousness, former Tiananmen Square protester Dai Wei learns that his mother had sold one of his kidneys to finance his care, and that the China he knew has undergone radical change.

In 1983, at 30, Ma Jian sought to escape his life in Beijing. He purchased a train ticket to China's western border, embarking on a journey of self-discovery. This book captures the contradictions of China through the perspective of someone who is both an insider and an outsider.

A Chinese writer whose marriage has fallen apart travels to Tibet. As he wanders through the countryside, the divide between fact and fiction becomes confused and the man is drawn deep into an alien culture that haunts his dreams.