The Mire of Officialdom

In the height of summer in 1995, a marriage contract from the Yellow River floodplain cut the life of Cheng Zhiyuan, a top student at East China Normal University, in two. When big-character posters covered the campus, this talented young man from a poor family was sent away from Shanghai and back to the Yellow River floodplain. His fortunes took a sudden turn for the worse. On the muddy flats of Niwan Township, Cheng Zhiyuan measured the gap between his ideals and reality with bare feet. The Education Office’s obstruction, the county leaders’ cold indifference, and the pain of being forced apart from his lover in Shanghai could not wear down the stubbornness of this son of the Yellow River. A speech about poverty alleviation became the turning point. It brought him to Ma Demin, a tough-as-steel Party secretary who became his mentor, and to nurse Ma Xiaowen, who would light up his bleak life. Officialdom on the Floodplain tells the story of a poor student’s remarkable rise in the late 1990s. From a disgraced scholar sent away to a leader governing an entire region, Cheng Zhiyuan stays true to his principles amid the whirlpool of power and love. Here you’ll find the most authentic picture of grassroots officialdom, the most moving story of struggle, and the most ardent love among the people of the Yellow River. When ideals collide with reality, this child of the Yellow River floodplain will leave the deepest footprints on the muddy road of fate.