Dai, Sijie

Two hapless city boys are exiled to a remote mountain village for re-education during China's infamous Cultural Revolution. There they meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. Reading the books opens up a world they never knew existed.

Two boys, moved to the country for "re-education" as part of Mao's Cultural Revolution, find little to amuse them, but things change when they discover a stash of Western classics in Chinese translation and use the stories of Balzac to capture the attention of the beautiful daughter of the local tailor.

A Western student in China in the 1970s is drawn to the greengrocer Tumchooq and his stories, but when he disappears, the young woman, now pregnant with Tumchooq's child, goes in search of answers about his tale of a missing silk scroll said to be inscribed with a lost sutra composed by the Buddha.