The novel also begins with an anxious Wu and his wife in an airport after Tian'anmen, waiting for their not-yet-six-year-old son to arrive from China, something that Jin himself experienced.
小說一開頭寫六四過後，武男夫妻在機場等待 6 歲不到的兒子從中國獨自前來的心急如焚，那也是哈金的真實經驗。