Changes

|title=20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth

|author=Xiaolu Guo

|date=January 2008

|isbn=978-0701181550

}}

Tired of life in her village, tired of the routines, the endless sweet potatoes, the silence in her family, of time, stretching inexorably in front of her, Fenfang packs her bags and travels 1,800 miles across China to Beijing. She intends to make her name in the film industry - and with the money she earns, she's going to buy life's shiny things. At her very first casting, Fenfang finds herself the 6,787th extra in line. Undaunted, she persists and stomps her feisty way through extra role after extra role - woman on a station, tired woman in a queue, dead woman in a field. She turns her hand to writing. She stomps her way through apartment after apartment, always scandalising her neighbours with unsuitable - sometimes Western - boyfriends. Heavenly Bastard in the Sky, Fenfang doesn't always feel as though she's much of a success, but she's inspirational to read about. Indomitable, even.