In 1982, Liu Zhimin, an intellectual young man, was sent to a remote town because he was "ignorant". He believed that knowledge could change destiny, but he soon discovered that reporting letters would fall into the hands of the person being reported, and ideals and love would be vulnerable to reality. Thirty years later, he became the most trouble-making secretary in the province, but he couldn't recognize himself in the mirror late at night.
He built tall buildings but lost the ability to gaze at the stars;
He mastered all the rules, but he couldn't recognize himself in the mirror late at night.
From refusing to bow his head to becoming accustomed to bending down, from an ideal young man to a power player, Liu Zhimin spent thirty years completing a Chinese-style growth path.
How an aloof and aloof scholar was gradually smoothed away by real life and institutional rules, from "unwilling to bow his head" to "had to bow his head" to "used to bowing his head". He spent half his life climbing up, and finally climbed to a position where he could overlook all living beings, only to find that there was already a cliff at his feet.
This is not a "good guy goes bad" story.
This may be a story about everyone in today's society——
When the price of survival is losing yourself, are you still willing to survive?
