PHOENIXA: THE NEST: A Mystical Quest for the Cheng Legacy

Phoenixa, rising from the ashes of her ancestors, the six-and-half-year-old kite-flying, Phoenix-riding, Chinese girl embarks on a mystical journey into China’s tumultuous past searching for her Renaissance Grandpa who read to her Shan Hai Jing, The Classic of Mountains and Seas, seeking cures for human greed.


From the interior of a traditional Beijing courtyard to the tiptop of a giant Wu Tong Tree, Phoenixa finds her nest being dislocated from safety to danger. A relentless Red force is ready to strip her home bare. Fortunately, the enduring incandescent Feng Huang, the Phoenix, has kept her amused and protected as a secret guardian.


Written in the genre-defining style now called “Mystical Realism”, Cheng has tapped into the subconsciousness and beyond in search of human goodness. Cheng’s debut novel is stunningly visual, fantastical, dreamlike yet achingly real, demystifying China, as it offers a luminous insider’s view on why and how the Dragon roared.


PHOENIXA: The Nest, A Mystical Quest for the Cheng Legacy, is a story of metamorphosis, of freedom, of redemption, of madness, of humanity at the brink of self-destruction.