An author who confronts our demons

It's dusk and Tuola the bear king makes his way down the mountain and arrives at a Lisu ethnic group village in Yunnan province.

When the villagers wake, they are thrilled. Instead of sending dogs to chase the bear away, they offer Tuola honeyed corn wine. As soon as the drunk bear falls asleep, they crowd around him, not to kill, but to clean his fur of flees and admire his physique.

With a mattress bound on two poles, the strongest young men of the village carry the bear up the mountain, which involves cutting a way through the bamboo grove and crawling over a precarious bridge.