LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL 2017 With the Yi River on one side and the Balou Mountains on the other, the village of Explosion was founded a thousand years ago by refugees fleeing a volcanic eruption.But in the post-Mao era, the name takes on a new significance as the rural community grows explosively from a small village to a town to a city to a vast megalopolis.Behind this rapid expansion are three rival clans linked together by a web of ambition, madness and greed.Together they transform their hometown into a Babylon of modern times -- an unrivalled urban superpower built on lies, sex and thievery. 'One of the masters of modern Chinese literature' Jung Chang