Tou ming de hong luo bo, usually translated as The Transparent Red Radish, is a novella about a quiet, mistreated boy working on a bridge construction site in a poor village during a hard period in China. He is nearly silent, but he has an unusual sensitivity to the world. Around him are cruel workers, a gifted blacksmith and a young woman. The story is lyrical and strange, and it is among Mo Yan's earliest celebrated works.