Hard Time: 30 Months in a Chinese Labor Camp

The Los Angeles Times calls Liu's previous works "warm-hearted and clear-eyed," while The Christian Science Monitor says, "Mr. Liu has a brand of frankness that during the Cultural Revolution was more likely to win him a stint of hard labor than it was to win him friends."

Set against the stark backdrop of China's turbulent Cultural Revolution, Hard Time is the author's account of his 30-month internment in Chadian Labor Reform Farm No. 583. He describes his degrading and dehumanizing experiences with a frank and often uncomfortable honesty. The tone of his narrative is deeply personal--there is no mistaking the authenticity of his experiences--and deeply rooted in loneliness and sudden waves of despair. Along the way, he meets many of China's other "Lost Sons," forming alliances and avoiding enemies.