The Book of Life deals with China’s unique evolution over the last half a century, and the people in the great transition from traditional rural life to modern cities. It creates a series of distinctive portraits with a bold yet profound voice. Li Peifu focuses on those who carry their rural backgrounds with them wherever they go. They are tested by intense contrasts of gain and loss, fast and slow, matter and spirit, homeland and foreign land. Their fate offers us insight into the deep structures of social consciousness. These transitional struggles are a clear and urgent echo of the transformations of contemporary society.