In the 1990s, as China continues to embrace—and grapple with—the global market economy, Qiu Shui and his friends attend med school, an ambition that has more to do with getting out of the country than with actually becoming doctors. Following the exploits of a young student and his classmates, from drinking binges, sex, and playing video games all night to military training, homework, and college-age high jinks, Beijing, Beijing provides an inventive, hilarious, and incisive look into how a culture—and one man—struggle to reconcile their past with the changes brought by modern times. As the years pass and friends, family, and lovers move on, Qiu Shui confronts the loneliness and confusion that define his generation.

Feng Tang was born in 1971 in Beijing. His real name is Zhang Haipeng, and he’s a Taurus. He studied at Peking Union Medical College from 1990 to 1998 and earned a doctorate in clinical medicine with a specialization in gynecologic oncology. He received an MBA in business management in the United States and has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company. He currently lives in Hong Kong. His novels include the trilogy Give Me a Chick at 18, Everything Grows, and Beijing, Beijing and the standalone titles Happiness and Oneness. His short stories include “Pigs and Butterflies,” “You Live and Live and Then You’re Old,” “How to Become a Monster,” and “36 Biggies of Life.” He has written a collection of poems entitled One Hundred Poems of Feng Tang. Beijing, Beijing is his debut in English.