SUMMARY COMRADES

Comrades of the Cut Sleeve is the story of Chen Ming, the conservative protagonist and narrator. Ming is born in a small and poor farming hamlet in the hills east of the city of Taiyuan in the People’s Republic of China. During the Cultural Revolution, the family is forced to move into the city to work in a coalmine and steel factory. At school, Ming befriends Wong Yong, the son of a dentist. Ming and Yong develop a homosexual friendship. Influenced by his fear to be arrested for his illegal sexual orientation, Ming forces himself to develop romantic feelings for a three year older girl, Lily, who works as a musician in a local restaurant. Lily is a beautiful, but unusual girl who has a secret. Lily goes missing during a trip to Beijing where she is expected to audition for a musical ensemble. She leaves behind a heartbroken Ming whose investigation as to what happened to Lily remains unsuccesful for decades.

Meanwhile, his school friend Yong moves to Beijing where he is admitted to Beijing University’s Medical Faculty. Helped by Yong’s mother who works for the Communist Party, Ming develops a successful career in the People's Liberation Army . In 1989, Ming is a leading tank commander, fighting demonstrators on Tiananmen Square. After the square has been cleared and public order restored, Ming spearheads a tank column away from the square when a lone student stops the column. This historic moment will change Ming's life dramatically.

At age 26 Ming marries Lin, the daughter of Ming's Regiment Commander. They have one son, Feng. At the age of 15, Feng confides in his father that he wants to become a girl. To the dismay of his wife and extended family, Ming tries to help his son by finding a solution to his problem. He contacts his old friend Dr. Wong Yong in Beijing, now a renowned plastic surgeon. Both men travel to Bangkok in 2009 to learn more about Gender Identity Disorder with the Thai Chinese plastic surgeon Dr. Li Xiao. Before Ming and Yong return to China, Ming is no longer the man he thought he was and his life is turned upside down.