Xing Tongyi, born in Tianshui, Gansu Province, graduated from Tianshui No. 1 High School in 1966, and has served as a reporter and deputy director of Gansu People's Broadcasting Station, deputy party secretary of Jiuquan city and chairman of Jiuquan Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee. He spent eight years researching historical data and conducting interviews, and wrote Worlds Away: A Look Back at Jiabiangou, a reportage about the labor farm in Jiabiangou.
