Under the Hawthorn Tree
Author: Ai Mi
Desc: Yichang municipality Hubei province China early 1970s. High-school student Jingqiu is one of many educated urban youth sent to the countryside to be "re-educated" under a dictate from Chairman Mao. Jing's father is a political prisoner somewhere in China and her mother a former teacher branded as a "capitalist " is now reduced to menial work to support Jing and her two younger siblings. When Jing arrives with a group at Xiping village in the Yangtze River's Three Gorges region she meets geology student Jianxin nicknamed "Old Three " who is the son of a high-ranking military officer but whose mother committed suicide after being branded a "rightist." Despite their disparate social backgrounds and a political atmosphere that forbids the relationship Jingqiu and Jianxin fall desperately in love. But their budding romance is cut short by fate... A sensitive and searing love story Under the Hawthorn Tree is sure to become an instant classic.