China Mountain Zhang - Maureen F. McHugh

'I am Zhang, alone with my light, and in that light I think for a moment that I am free.'

Imagine a world where Chinese Marxism has
vanquished the values of capitalism and Lenin is the prophet of choice. A
cybernetic world where the new charioteers are flyers, human-powered
kites dancing in the skies over New York in a brief grab at glory. A
world where the opulence of Beijing marks a new cultural imperialism, as
wealthy urbanites flirt with interactive death in illegal speakeasies,
and where Arctic research stations and communes on Mars are haunted by
their own fragile dangers.

A world of fear and hope, of
global disaster and slow healing, where progress can only be found in
the cracks of a crumbling hegemony. This is the world of Zhang. An anti-hero
who's still finding his way, treading a path through a totalitarian
order - a path that just might make a difference.