A satirical deconstruction of high Maoist role models and rhetoric, Seven Kinds of Mushrooms is set in a remote forestry station annex in Shandong province during the Cultural Revolution era in China. Mushrooms weaves a vivid story of political intrigue, murder, romance and lust. Drawing on the repertories of Magic Realism and surrealism, the author masterfully turns Maoist stereotypes on their head, presenting us with an array of compromised, flawed heroes and pathetic, inept villains. The main protagonist, Old Ding, is an illiterate peasant who sees himself as the hero in a revolutionary morality play of his own making. He is the consummate peasant storyteller: ignorant of the world outside, but possessed of fantastic imagination and a knack for creating engaging, suspenseful tales. The author is at his sardonic, perspicacious best in this novel that poses universal questions about the use and abuse of language in the pursuit of power.