BEIJING COMA

Dai Wei is a medical student and a pro-democracy protestor in TiananmenSquare in June 1989. Caught by a soldier's bullet, he falls into a deepcoma; as soon as the hospital authorities discover he is an activist, hismother is forced to take him home. She allows pharmacists access to DaiWei's body and sells his urine and his left kidney to fund specialtreatment from Master Yao, a member of the outlawed Falun Gong sect. Butduring a government crackdown, the Master is arrested and Dai Wei's mother- who has fallen in love with him - loses her mind. The millennium draws near and Dai Wei has been in a coma for almost adecade. A sparrow flies through the window and lands on his naked chest;it is a sign that Dai Wei must emerge from his dry cocoon. But China hasalso undergone a massive transformation in the time that he has beenabsent. As he prepares to take leave of his old metal bed, Dai Weirealises that the rich imaginative world afforded to him as a coma patientis a startling contrast with the death-in-life of the world outside.