Years of Red Dust - Qiu Xiaolong

Subtitled Stories of Shanghai, rather than simply a random collection of stories, this is a series about a single Shanghai street that takes place from 1949 - 2005. My usual reluctance about short story collections didn't materialize, as the overall focus on single area meant that many of the characters appeared in multiple stories. The overall effect is more like a novel and I found it to be a fascinating look at the changes in China since 1949. Recommended.