It does not say that Red Star Garment Factory has gone bankrupt or that, being honorably retired, Granny Lin will not receive her pension. Of course it will not provide such information, for these facts are simply not true. 'Bankrupt' is the wrong word for a state-owned industry. 'Internal reorganization' is what has been kindly omitted in the certificate.”
-- Narrator (Extra paragraph 2)

Importance: This quote appears at the beginning of "Extra," and thus at the very beginning of the story collection. The quote places the setting definitively within communist China by including "Red Star" in the name of the factory and noting that the garment industry is state-owned. This quote also introduces the reader to and emphasizes the manipulative objective of the Communist Party's censorship: official documents will purposely, "kindly," not include information that may lead one to perceive the Party in a negative light (3).

There were wild rumors, though, about them serving as...
-- The Townspeople (Immortality paragraph 2)