IN a poor town in Sichuan, the water seller stood at the gate, waiting for the gods to come. His name was Wang. He sold something that could not always be bought and sold, and in the instability of his life, he tried to hold on to hope.

But, as Bertolt Brecht tells in his famous play, Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (The Good Person of Sichuan), life is indeed a constant struggle. In that city, Wang, like many others, has been impoverished for years.