The Little Sheep Fold was a street in modern Peiping, a street where seven family compounds created an illusion of security of village life within the city, an illusion shattered by Japanese conquest and its aftermath. This is the story of the people of that street, from old man Chi, whose compound housed four generations representing varied facets of Chinese reaction to the ""yellow storm"" -- to Kuan who, with his second wife, chose the road of collaboration with the enemy, even to betrayal of his neighbor Chien, the poet who had hurt his ego by ignoring him. Some of the youths chose escape into the Chinese army; others preferred the red banner; others cowered in relatively innocuous and safe jobs. There is a sense of life pushed a bit awry but still going on, despite fear and death and betrayal and black markets and austerity programs. The pace of story, the lack of a building to climax, will seem slow motion to the average Western reader. But Lau Shaw's reputation ( was a book club choice) will carry it over the hurdles with some who enjoy reading novels reflecting the mood and tempo of contemporary writers in their own locale.