A Lonely Boat on a Cold River: Twenty Years Adrift in the Sea of Officialdom

In the height of summer in 2005, three young people who had earned government trainee placements after graduating from a provincial capital university in eastern China embarked on their own political careers in different corners of Hongjiang County, Yangchuan City. Gu Lisheng, born into a poor family, plunged straight into Qingshiling Township, the poorest in the county. In a leaky storeroom and along muddy mountain roads, he held fast to his burning desire to serve the people, becoming a hands-on worker rooted in the local community. Bi Chenggong, raised within the system, secured a post at the county government office. Navigating the narrow confines of bureaucracy, he mastered its rules and moved cautiously, determined to overcome the regrets of his father’s generation. Han Jiangxue, born into a scholarly family, joined the county culture bureau. Amid worldly distractions and undercurrents, she held on to her inner integrity and refused to bow to corruption. Two decades of political ups and downs, three people, three different fates. One found faith in the soil of the grassroots. One lost his soul in the labyrinth of power. One pieced herself back together after being broken. Some reached the shore, some ran aground, and some are still on the road. In the end, they could not escape these lines: An old man in a straw cloak and bamboo hat, fishing alone in the snowy river. What is he fishing for? Never fish in the river, but the human heart’s original purpose. I dedicate this book to everyone fishing alone in the heart of life’s river.