Rickshaw Boy

Lao She · 1899–1966 · China

Originally Luotuo Xiangzi (Chinese) · translated by Howard Goldblatt

Why it matters

An honest Beijing rickshaw puller is ground down by poverty and a merciless city until his decency gives out. Lao She's tragicomic masterpiece of old Beijing and the futility of individual virtue against systemic cruelty.

At a glance

Direct, vernacular prose in a straightforward tragic descent.