In the 1940's a French missionary named Father Michel attempted to find new route to Tibet by passing through the mountain known as the Phoenix of the Sky. This is where Luo and the narrator are banished to so they can be "re-educated".
The Phoenix of the Sky is a large mountain famous for its copper and is said to be a gift of the Han Dynasty. It has twenty villages scattered along its ridges, each taking about six city people. The narrator and Luo are sent to the poorest village only able to afford two city people.
