Stories of city blues

The protagonists in Xue Yiwei's short stories may encounter a variety of scenarios, but they inevitably find themselves making the same choice: to run away.

They run because they lack a sense of belonging in the place they live. The efforts of an individual are never enough to belong to a collective.

This is what comes to mind when I close Taxi Driver, a collection of short stories by Xue. The collection, which was published this year, is a series of stories that revolve around the city of Shenzhen.