Summary

Part Zero begins at Chapter 7 and counts down. Chapter 7 opens with Marie in Shanghai reflecting on her father’s death and his writings. She concludes that Zhuli’s death was a transformative boundary point for her father, changing his perspective on his own life dramatically.

She visits Tofu Liu, who tells her about his return to the Conservatory in 1977 after six years in a re-education camp. He plays a wire recording of Zhuli and Kai playing “From My Homeland” for Marie. The chapter ends with Marie showing Tofu Liu a photograph of Ai-ming. He mistakes her for Zhuli and says that they share the same face.

Chapter 6 opens with Sparrow pedaling home from the factory. A broadcast from 1973 plays classical music, even though the year is 1976. Ai-ming is present in the story as a child; she is closer to Big Mother Knife...