A Harsh World

A series of kidnappings in Binjiang City in 2005 revealed a tangled web of underworld forces lurking beneath the city.

During the special period when the planned economy was rapidly giving way to a market economy, Binjiang City required more than a thousand state-owned enterprises under its jurisdiction to complete their restructuring within a year, with 90% of them to be restructured. The unscrupulous businessman Shang Lei seized the opportunity to buy off and corrupt officials, using his connections in both the underworld and legitimate society to embezzle state assets from the Binjiang Machinery Factory.

This sweeping ensemble novel portrays the grim hardships faced by laid-off workers during the wave of state-owned enterprise reforms in Northeast China, as well as the bizarre state of affairs in Binjiang City’s government circles. Through the story of taking down the drug-trafficking criminal gang led by Han Qiang, it celebrates the revolutionary spirit of the people’s police, represented by Wang Zhen: their fearlessness in the face of sacrifice, their determination to overcome every obstacle, and their resolve to win. (Ensemble cast + multiple storylines + crackdown on organized crime and corruption + the murky side of state-owned enterprise reform in Northeast China)

This novel is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.