This book consists of 69 interviews, reflecting a wide range of personal experiences between 1978 and 1990. In these personal interviews, Chinese people talk about both the ordinary and extraordinary events in their lives. A poor farmer on the Loess Plateau says that all he needs is water to have everything in life. A prisoner, convicted for a number of crimes, talks about his own childhood misfortunes. A Guangdong hairstylist working in Beijing and a self-employed taxi driver in Shanghai both frankly admit that their goals are to make money; an accomplished Shanghai portrait photographer discloses that he wishes to do nude photography before his retirement; and a woman pilot says the only regret in her life is that as a pilot she cannot wear her beautiful hair long …. These were the people one might have come across in any city, town or village in any part of China. All the interviewees related their experiences, joys, sorrows, challenges, grievances and hopes, in a candid manner. Through this fascinating collection of personal anecdotes, readers will get inside glimpses of China in the course of great social transformation brought about by reform and opening up.