From the Kingfisher Review of Books

Death can rehabilitate almost anything, even Beijing Story by Tongzhi.
Too much explicit sex to classify it as a "love story", it's not even erotic - and the Kingfisher is not exactly a puritan. And does the book really depict some kind of life in China? Well, it could have happened in so many other countries.
It belongs to the "Internet novels" - a phenomenon very much alive in China to escape censorship. This could explain why I have found so many enthusiastic reviews about it. When something is censored, it immediately attracts attention.
A small Italian publishing house decided to publish it as a paper book in translation. But that's about it. The fact of being censored doesn't make it worth reading in my view.