n 1973, when Wenguang Huang was eight, his grandmother became obsessed with her own death. Fearing cremation, she appealed to her family to promise to bury her after she'd died. This was in Xi'an, a city in central China, at a time wh...

A Washington Post Best of 2012 pick"Delightful . . . a book that brings a corner of modern China alive."-The Wall Street Journal When Wenguang Huang was nine years old, his grandmother became obsessed with her own death...

Three generations of a family living under one roof reflect the dramatic transformations of an entire society in this memoir of life in 20th century China/When Wenguang Huang was nine years old, his grandmother became obsessed with he...