"Lao Hong was born under the sign of the Tiger, so he ought to be strong, if reckless; loyal, but hot-tempered; compassionate, though with little respect for authority. People declared that in every respect young Hong was true to his birth sign" (pg. 4.)

"Chen stared at but failed to see his village as the cart entered it: the wattle and plaster walls, a pond green and fecund with slime, the sagging door on a weathered old hut, shoes drying on hooks after an early morning rain, a pile of sodden straw. He saw none of these things. His mind was filled with a book" (pg. 21)

"For two days they labored through the mountain passes, following the tortuous paths between spruce and lindens with heart-shaped leaves, through groves of birches and ancient larches. The rain kept up a steady tattoo on conifers and flocks of sheep that huddled on...