In the hell where the class enemies stew, the big landowner Ximen Nao resents his cruel death. No, he was not an enemy of the revolution and always treated his peasants well! The hell lord Yama has a sympathy and allows him to return to his former house. But what a misfortune, he is reborn as a donkey. Wise and willing, he now serves his former subjects and amazes them with unexpected talents. But even the donkey is not granted a happy life, again and again he is reborn as a powerful bull, as a fertile breeder, as a clever monkey. Thus he lives through heroic and cruel times in the midst of the village of which he was once the master. As a mischievous narrator, he leads the reader through adventures great and small in the ups and downs of Chinese history. Mo Yan's deeply human novel is a sparkling bi.