The Chimney Fell!

Spring 1995, a heavy-industrial city somewhere in Northeast China. The chimney that had stood for forty years was still belching smoke. But everyone knew it was about to go cold.

A single bankruptcy notice from Hongxing Machinery Factory shattered the lives of more than eight thousand workers.

Du Jianguo, fifty-one, a Grade Eight fitter, received 23,400 yuan in severance pay for thirty-four years of service. He had given half his life to the factory, only to discover in the end that he had nothing left but his trade. He opened a repair shop behind the market, hoping a single wrench could help him rebuild his family's dignity.

Qin Hong, thirty-eight, was an accountant in the factory office. She was among the first to see the truth. From factory accountant to owner of a sewing stall, from working an abacus to wielding a needle and thread, she took herself apart piece by piece and stitched herself back together. But some things can't be mended with needle and thread, like the man who came loitering by her stall every day, and the look in his eyes that meant something more.

Chen Xiaoyong, twenty-four, was a young worker who had taken his father's place at the factory. He took his severance pay and boarded a green train heading south, convinced that Guangzhou was overflowing with opportunity. Fate had a Sichuan girl, a fight, and a single cell in the detention center waiting for him.

This is a novel about loss. Losing a job, losing an identity, losing the things people had believed in for decades. But it is also a novel about searching: searching for a way forward, for dignity, for the strength to rise again from the ruins.

The chimney eventually fell. But those people were still standing.