Beijing Sprawl

Stories of friendship, failure, and survival from Xu Zechen, author of “some of the most exciting and energized writing coming out of China now.” (Paul French)

Muyu, a seventeen-year-old from a small village, came to Beijing for his piece of the dream: money, love, a good life. But in the city, daily life for him and his friends—purveyors of fake IDs and counterfeit papers—is a precarious balance of struggle and guile. Surveying the neighborhood from the rooftop of the apartment they all sha...