Rickshaw Boy (Camel Xiangzi)

This book is a representative work of Lao She. It reflects the social system and the livelihood of laborers in the old days by portraying such characters as Xiangzi, Huniu, little Fuzi, Er'qiangzi, Old Ma and his grandson, and the Fourth Elder Liu. This book, with its primary clue being the whereabouts of rickshawman Xiangzi in Beiping (today's Beijing), the civil life of Beijing in late 1920s as its background and major plots concerning the rough and miserable misfortunes of Xiangzi, profoundly reveals the darkness of the old Chinese society, accuses the exploitation and oppression exerted on laborers by the ruling class, expresses the author's deep sympathy to the toiling masses, and presents to readers a picture of miserable abysses in which the lowest class in Beijing were living under the oppressive rule in a time of incessant fighting between warlords. )