In the bitter winter of the 1980s, Chen Gang, a technical college graduate, clutches his work assignment papers and boards a long-distance bus bound for the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai. Through three days and two nights of jolting travel amid snow and wind, the paint-chipped bus carries oil workers, silent herders, and a few women bundled in scarves across the snowbound plains of Riyue Mountain and the vast dust clouds of corrugated roads. At last, they arrive in Xinghuo Town, deep in the Gobi Desert.
This is a remote corner of the industrial map of New China. Telegraph machines tick away in the highland wired communications room; the workplace network is connected by crank telephones; and modern communications infrastructure, from program-controlled switching to fiber-optic and mobile communications, comes together in a portrait of young technicians putting down roots in their time. Here, Chen Gang will take up his veteran colleague's enamel mug. During his probationary period, when his salary is just 44 yuan, he will face the beeping of faulty equipment, the weighty responsibility of safeguarding national defense fiber-optic cables, and a cast of unforgettable people: Li Ya, a spirited and warmhearted local woman; a Shandong instructor with a fiery temper; and Section Chief Yuan, whose dialect is soft and lilting...
With rough hands, they crank the phones to life. With fingertips numb from the cold, they splice fiber-optic cables. Beneath the windswept sands and starry skies of the Kunlun Mountains, they safeguard the voices that connect them to the outside world. This is a story about communications workers, technological dreams, and the warmth of an era. When ordinary people meet vast landscapes, the light they give off shines brighter than the stars.
This story is dedicated to everyone who lived earnestly through the years.
The first five chapters use delicate and simple writing to construct a vivid picture of the Northwest Post and Telecommunications Bureau in the 1980s. Chen Gang's joining process is not only the beginning of personal growth, but also a microcosm of the era of a generation of technical youth - from the confusion of long-distance bumps, to the interpersonal warmth in the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes, to the industry urgency of "robbing people" in communication stocks, every scene is flowing with the true blood of the times. The attention to detail is particularly outstanding: the whine of the crank phone, the wolfberry stains on the enamel cup, and the precise figure of the 44 yuan salary stated by the leader, together weave a picture that combines the flavor of life with the depth of history. The characters are vividly and three-dimensionally created. Secretary Lu's thoughtfulness, instructor Sun's impatience, and Li Ya's agility are all revealed naturally through dialogue and actions, injecting human warmth into the technical narrative. Overall, this is a sincere work rooted in the soil of the times, allowing people to hear the pulse of the times in the communications equipment room under the Kunlun Mountains. 👍👍👍