Era background: In the winter of 1987, the old industrial base in Northeast China was on the eve of the transformation from a planned economy to a market economy. Large state-owned factories are facing the pain of reform, workers' iron rice bowls are beginning to shake, and the entire society is filled with confusion and expectations on the eve of change.
Main story line: The novel is set in the ice city of Harbin. Through the life changes of Chen Jianguo's family, a steel factory worker, the novel shows the struggle, perseverance and hope of ordinary Northeastern families in the torrent of the times. Chen Jianguo is an eighth-level fitter with superb skills, but he is facing the crisis of declining factory efficiency and possible layoffs; his son Chen Mo is in his third year of high school and has a literary dream but has to face the realistic pressure of "learning mathematics, physics and chemistry well and traveling all over the world"; his wife Liu Shufen works in a textile factory and is the glue of the family, but she silently suffers from her own career anxiety.
Core conflict: the collision between the glory of traditional industry and the wave of emerging markets, the intergenerational conflict between the "factory is home" concept that the fathers adhere to and the younger generation's yearning for the outside world, the tear between personal ideals and real pressure.
Story style: There is warmth in the coldness, and there is poetry hidden in reality, just like a bowl of Northeastern pickled cabbage and white meat - the first taste is cold, but the later taste is sweet. In the text, there are reflections of Russian-style buildings on Central Street in Harbin, the majesty of the Songhua River frozen thousands of miles away, the smell of engine oil and metal in the factory workshop, and the aroma of home-cooked food wafting from the tube building.
