This book tells the story of a youth choir in Wuhan during the founding era of New China. The novel could be seen as a "musical novel" for citing many famous Chinese and foreign songs. Just like in Vladimir Korolenko's novel The Blind Musician, where the melodious flute sound of the old groom Joachim has been guiding the growth of the five-year-old blind child, the songs in this book that were created in different eras also play a role as the "spiritual nourishment" for the teenager Jiangnan and his partners in his childhood, leading them to grow from narrow-minded, hesitant, and fragile to broad, firm, and strong.

In this novel, apart from the fact that music forms a great part, it also has another prominent feature, which is the regional culture and folk customs of old Wuhan city. The loud and strong chanting on the pier of the Yangtze River, the mighty sound of the surging river, the melodious bells of Hankow Customs House, the vendor's hawking in the alleys of the old Hankou, as well as various customs, snacks, and dialects, all of which help create a vivid painting of local customs that presents lively daily life and the wharf culture.