Debt of Sin

Name: Debt of Sin
ISBN: 9787521227925

Ye XinWriters Publishing House · ChinaMar 2026

4.0

Word count: 268K words
Chapters: 50
ISBN: 9787521227925

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Summary

Five children of sent-down youth travel together from Yunnan to Shanghai to find their biological parents. Their circumstances differ, and they begin new lives of their own, but fate soon pushes them into the complexities of social life. Shen Meixia, admitted to a Shanghai university with excellent grades, stays on through graduate school; intelligent and beautiful, she has many suitors—will she find a happy marriage? Liang Sifan, once a bright boy, remains in Shanghai after an accident; handsome but always brooding, his face clouded with melancholy. Sheng Tianhua also stays in Shanghai, living in his stepfather's villa, yet inexplicably goes through a life-and-death ordeal. Lu Xiaofeng, from a harmonious and happy family, has become almost a true Shanghainese; his relationship with his girlfriend Shang Miya is solid, and buying a home and getting married go smoothly—but after marriage, family conflicts keep arising. How will he cope? An Yonghui, having failed the college entrance exam, stays in Yunnan; relying on his intelligence, he returns to Shanghai and achieves success in his career—but the future holds many difficulties. The story begins here.

Editor's review

*Niezhai* turns its lens on the children of sent-down youth, a distinctive group, following their separate lives after they travel from Yunnan to Shanghai in search of their biological parents. The work's value lies not in dramatizing suffering but in grounding the tension among blood ties, identity, and city life in specific characters: Shen Meixia's studies and love life, Liang Sifan's accident and melancholy, Sheng Tianhua's life-and-death ordeal, Lu Xiaofeng's marital conflicts, and An Yonghui's exam failure and return to Shanghai. Five threads run in parallel, presenting a generation's search for a place amid the gaps in kinship and the pressures of life. Ye Xin's narration is plain and restrained, with details close to daily life; characters' fates are interwoven with family ethics and the urban-rural divide, making the book suited to slow reading over a longer period. For readers who want to understand the situation of the children of sent-down youth and who care about family relationships and coming-of-age issues, this book offers rich material for discussion; while reading, note the differences in how characters respond to similar predicaments and how those choices in turn shape their lives.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of sent-down youth and the fates of their children
Those who enjoy multi-threaded narratives and care about family ethics and coming-of-age themes
Readers who hope to understand urban-rural differences and identity through fiction
Readers with extended reading time who are willing to follow characters' fates as they unfold

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast pacing and strong plotting and lack patience
Those who want only light romance or pure entertainment
Readers sensitive to heavy themes such as family conflict and searching for biological parents

Reading tips

First clarify the circumstances and relationships of the five main characters; later chapters will then read more smoothly.
When a character meets a turning point, pause and consider the family and identity factors behind their choice.
Read in stages, concentrating on one or two character threads at a time to avoid confusing the storylines.
After finishing, compare with *Cuotuo Suiyue* to understand the different circumstances of the two generations.

About the publisher

Writers Publishing House China · Founded in 1953

Writers Publishing House is a Chinese publisher focused mainly on literary publishing. Its output covers classical literature, foreign literature, folk literature and Eastern philosophy, with some extension into popular reading such as social fiction and parenting books. Its catalogue contains more than 900 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber and its edited editions, Shakespeare's Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and foreign literary classics such as The Brothers Karamazov and Lost Illusions. In terms of authors, it includes classical writers such as Cao Xueqin and Gao E, foreign masters such as William Shakespeare, Dostoevsky and Balzac, and translations by translators such as Zhu Shenghao, Geng Jizhi and Fu Lei. Overall, its publishing profile balances Chinese and foreign literary classics, emphasizes quality translations, and serves both academic and general readers; publicly available information on its specific publishing plans is limited.

版权信息
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不是尾声
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后记

FAQ

What is this book mainly about?

The novel follows five children of sent-down youth who travel from Yunnan to Shanghai to find their biological parents, and depicts their lives in Shanghai or Yunnan after the search: study, work, romance, marriage, and family conflict. The story does not end with “finding the parents”; it goes on to ask how they can settle themselves amid complex reality.

I haven't read any works about sent-down youth. Can I still understand it?

Yes. The novel takes the children's generation as its protagonists and focuses on their present lives and choices; it does not require familiarity with the previous generation's history. Simply follow the character threads to understand their situations; if you want background, you can then read the same author's *Cuotuo Suiyue*.

Among the main characters, whose story is most worth following?

The five threads each have their emphasis: Shen Meixia involves study and marriage, Liang Sifan carries the psychological shadow of an accident, Sheng Tianhua goes through a life-and-death ordeal, Lu Xiaofeng faces marital conflict, and An Yonghui goes from exam failure to returning to Shanghai. Don't follow just one thread—the contrasts among the characters bring out the work's themes more clearly.

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About the author

Ye Xin Author · China · 1949

Ye Xin, originally named Ye Chengxi, was born in Shanghai in October 1949 and is a contemporary Chinese writer. In 1969 he went to Guizhou as a sent-down youth and spent ten years there, an experience that deeply shaped his writing. In 1977 he published his first work, The High Miao Ridge, and later brought out novels such as The Wasted Years, Family Education and The Debt of Sin, several of which he adapted into television dramas that drew wide public attention. Known for his social novels, Ye Xin focuses on ordinary people's fates and emotions amid changing times, with delicate and realistic strokes. In recent years he has also written cultural essays such as Shanghai: A Personal Portrait and new works including Marriage in Sorrow, Soul in Sorrow and Love in Sorrow. He once served as vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association.