Field of Life and Death

Through portraying the productive, reproductive and ethical relationship among people in a village in northeast China, the novel examines the squalor of life, destitution, disease and death as well as the frailty, ignorance and defiance of human nature.It is a thorough and profound study of the timeless themes like human nature and survival.In terms of literary expression, the novel resembles a film script, emphasizing scenes and details and full of images, symbols and mutual metaphor.

It is a poetic tragedy.