title: Deep in the Mountains: An Encounter with Zhu Qizhan (Art Encounters)
author:  Terrence Cheng 
description: <b>Terrence Cheng's</b> first novel, <i>Sons of Heaven</i>, was universally critically acclaimed. <i>Publishers Weekly</i> said it is "a rare find: historical and political without being pedantic, and briskly entertaining without being cheap, simplistic, or contrived," while <i>Library Journal</i> called it "a ripping good story." Cheng was a James Michener Fellow at the University of Miami, where he earned his MFA. He lives in New York City.
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  **Angado by E. C. Tubb**
  
   **Chapter One**
  
  Once, the place had been bright with the froth of make-believe; domes,
  minarets, spires, towers, soaring arches and sweeping promenades all blazing
  with variegated colors—a skillful illusion created with paint and plastic,
  lying like a jewel in the cup of rounded hills. The circus of Chen Wei was
  gone now, leaving only an expanse of torn and barren ground, a scatter of
  debris, the crusted surface of a fetid lagoon.
  
  A monument to emotional waste, which Avro pondered as his raft circled the
  area. How many work-hours had been poured into its construction, operation and
  maintenance? How many more had been squandered by those visiting the circus
  for the sake of transient thrills? Time, effort, resources, skills all
  dissipated to the wind. Leaving nothing but a raw devastation.
  
  Time would heal the wound and soon the hills would seem a