While the novella "Joy" and those included within the collection are fictional, it is thought that the intention of the short stories was to satirize and represent different attributes of modern China.[2]
References
^Reference guide to world literature. Pendergast, Sara., Pendergast, Tom. (3rd ed.). Detroit: St. James Press. 2003. ISBN978-1558624900. OCLC50643561.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Qinghua, Zhang; Lingenfelter, Andrea (September 2013). "The Nobel Prize, Mo Yan, and Contemporary Literature in China". Chinese Literature Today. 3 (1–2): 17–20. doi:10.1080/21514399.2013.11833992. ISSN2151-4399.