Four Generations Under One Roof
Lao She · 1899–1966 · China
Originally Sishi Tongtang (Chinese)
Why it matters
A Beijing family endures years of Japanese occupation street by street, generation grinding against generation over collaboration, endurance, and shame. Lao She's most ambitious novel, far longer than Rickshaw Boy and just as unflinching about ordinary complicity.
At a glance
war novelfamily sagahistorical fiction
Difficulty 6/10medium pace800 pagesA vast ensemble cast across three generations spans nearly a thousand pages of occupation-era Beijing.
