""""""""
201741215""

This edition is the original, unexpurgated version of the novel Fang Hua (Youth) before Chinese government censorship and revision.

The novel centers on a "touching" incident involving model hero Liu Feng and the female singer he secretly loves, unfolding a story set within a military performance troupe of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Set in the waning days of the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s, inside an old red-brick building in a southwestern city, a group of young military men and women in the prime of their youth experience love and betrayal, desire and confinement, war and survival. The story weaves through the emotional entanglements and intersections of characters such the simple-hearted "good man" Liu Feng, the collectively ostracized He Xiaoman, the pampered princess Lin Dingding, and the narrator Xiao Suizi. Their paths diverge dramatically over four decades, leading to life outcomes both vastly different and unexpectedly connected.

In April 2017, the novel's first edition was published in Beijing after censorship and revisions. On December 15th of the same year, the film Fang Hua (Youth), written by the author, directed by Feng Xiaogang, and starring Huang Xuan, premiered in China and worldwide.

A key purpose of this overseas edition is to present the uncensored original version to readers.