Northern Girls

Urbanization in China has driven millions from villages into bustling megalopolises and has also offered liberated modes of living. Sheng Keyi's tale of a 16-year-old small-town girl in Hunan Province that sets out to Shenzhen stands as a vivid portrait of how industrialization has shifted the roots of society and shaped the lives of women in China. Anonymity and alienation are among the many forces that migrant women from mainland China called "Northern Girls" must face.

Penguin Group, 2012