Rising from the ashes of her ancestors, Phoenixa, the six-and-a-half-year-old kite-flying, Phoenix-riding, Chinese girl embarks on a mystical journey into China’s tumultuous past, searching for her Renaissance Grandpa who read to her Shan Hai Jing, The Classic of Mountains and Seas, seeking cures for human greed. From the interior of a quiet traditional Beijing courtyard to the soaring heights of a giant Wu Tong Tree, Phoenixa finds her home being dislocated from safety to peril. A relentless Red force looms, ready to strip her home bare. Fortunately, the enduring incandescent Feng Huang, the Phoenix, has kept her amused and protected as a secret guardian, at least for now.

Written in the genre-defining style now called “Mystical Realism”, Cheng has tapped into the subconsciousness and beyond in search of human goodness. Cheng’s debut novel is stunningly visual, fantastical, dreamlike yet achingly real, demystifying China, as it offers a luminous insider’s view on why– and how — the Dragon roared. This is a story of metamorphosis and freedom, of madness and redemption, of humanity standing at the edge of self-destruction, and the fierce, tender hope of rebirth.