This ambitious novel depicts the struggles of Chenese peasants during the '80s,when the People's Republic began shifting toward a market economy.

In this dazzling, earthy novel Jia Pingwa presents an unforgettable chronicle of rural China, a world at once utterly alien and uncannily familiar. Turbulence follows the lives of two peasants, Golden Dog and Water Girl, through the post-Mao years and sets their star-crossed love for each other against the political upheavals of China itself.

Pitted against the bureaucracy that hamstrings modern China, Golden Dog winds through a fascinating cast of revolutionary cadres, bureaucrats, fortune-tellers,blacksmiths, farmers, and artisans.

Part epic story, part love story, part political parable,Turbulence places the reader in a world where the I Ching exists alongside The Thoughts of Chairman Mao. Yet the sheer humanity of the novel transcends both cultural and political differences and makes it stunningly resonant to our own culture.