China, 1980: From Live-In Son-in-Law to Pillar of the Nation

Chen Feng, a top military-industry expert, wakes up in 1980 as the most despised live-in son-in-law in a rural village in northern Jiangsu. His home is bare, his wife has given up on him, and the whole village is waiting to see his family starve to death that winter. Then an imported machine at the county machinery factory breaks down. The entire factory grinds to a halt, and the German experts shake their heads: “Only headquarters in Munich can fix it.” Chen Feng quietly picks up a wrench and walks into the workshop, as the whole factory laughs at him. An hour later, the machine roars back to life. Three months later, the agricultural machinery he designed increases the county’s income by thirty percent. Three years later, he stands at the Munich International Machinery Exhibition, facing the German colleagues who once looked down on him. “This five-axis CNC machine was built by us Chinese.” From a barefoot live-in son-in-law to a pillar of the nation, it takes him forty years to make that journey. “We’re not fighting for momentary pride. What we want is this era.”