In 1979, demobilized soldier Chen Shanhe turned down a job assignment and chose to return to the residential compound of his hometown's Guangming Textile Factory, where he became a neighborhood office worker. As the wave of people returning to the cities triggered a series of crises involving jobs, housing, public safety, and more, he drew on the organizational skills he had honed in the army and his commitment to the public good. Starting with cleaning up a public toilet and setting up a lunchbox stall for former sent-down youth, he led this chaotic, nearly ungovernable corner of the city, home to people from all walks of life, through two decades of change. Step by step, it became a nationally renowned model community for social harmony. Meanwhile, his fate intertwined with those of textile worker Shen Jing, returning sent-down youth Xiao Chunsheng, and others, creating an epic history of grassroots governance through the lives of ordinary people.
