This is perhaps the most famous novel about Tibet in China. It is written by a Tibetan who grew up in Tibet, and till now he's the most famous Tibetan writer in China. I read it when I was in primary school after watching a TV drama adapted from this book. It has explicit description of sex scenes which shocked me when I was reading it then. Generally, it's a fascinating book written with great skills, and as far as I remember, there is a beauty in its language and storytelling. Now I think of it, it is actually consistent with what the CCP says about the old Tibet--the serfdom/slavery, the cruel ruling of the noble, the arrival of PLA in Tibet. When I was reading this book, the cruel ways the nobles treated their slaves never shocked me, because by then I already knew that in feudal China, criminals were punished in ways that were similarly cruel.