Above the Back

Set against the rural backdrop of the Poyang Lake region, this poignant novella is based on a true story from Duchang, Jiangxi. It follows Zhang Zhifang, a young boy diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who loses the ability to walk by the fourth grade. With his parents forced to work far from home, his aging grandfather, Zhang Songbai, assumes the heavy burden of his care. For nine relentless years through muddy spring rains, scorching summer heat, and freezing winter snows, the grandfather carries his grandson to school on his back, transforming his own spine into the boy's mobile desk along winding rural paths. Despite extreme adversity and physical confinement, Zhifang refuses to yield to fate, believing that education is his only way forward. He studies late into the night, channeling all his struggles and perseverance into his books. Overcoming incredible physical odds, he triumphs in the national college entrance examination and is successfully admitted to Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The novel weaves a narrative of hardship and warmth within a working-class family, illustrating the profound strength of ordinary familial love and capturing an inspiring journey of resilience and the pursuit of dreams against the wind.