As the first grandson of the formidable Master Chai,his life is mapped out from the moment of his birth.Yet as Mingzhi grows,he begins to question his priviledged heritage:Master Chai----feudal landlord and opium farmer---may rule the household,beating out orders with his dragon stick,but,increasingly,Mingzhi rails against the confines and corruption of the family mansion.Eager to escape the secrets and shadows that lurk in its corners,to flee from the adultery and treachery,the rivalries and jealousies that mark its boundaries,he soon realizes his only path to freedom is through learning.

But this is the late nineteenth century,a time when the West is eager to seize a slice of the East.As the foreign devils encroach on China,Mingzhi is torn between two cultures;in a changing world,he must make a choice between the past and the future.

CHIEW-SIAH TEI was born and raised in Tampin,a small town in southern Malaysia.A bilingual writer,she came to the UK to study in the 1990s,and now lives in Glasgow.Little Hut of Leaping Fishes is her first novel,and was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2007.