Chen Jianguo, an assembly line worker who came to Shenzhen from rural Gansu, still stubbornly wanted to have a "home" in this city after experiencing factory closures, fires in urban villages, and being penniless.
He lived frugally and even went so far as to overdraw his brother's future, scraping together a down payment of 60,000 yuan. However, a sudden heavy rain and a fire on the edge of the city washed away and burned all his efforts and hopes.
During the days of begging, sleeping in bridge caves, and doing daily work, he witnessed the prosperity of the city and the decay of the underlying society. At the same time, the younger brother, who was thousands of miles away, walked into the university campus with the money his elder brother had exchanged for his dignity.
This is a story about displacement.
When Chen Jianguo was struggling to survive in the ruins of Shenzhen, his younger brother completed the "leap" for him at Jianjun University; while his younger brother was working and studying in the library, Chen Jianguo bought a moment of dignity in the corner of the library with five yuan.
There is no counterattack, no redemption.
There are only two brothers who are caught up in the torrent of the times. On their misplaced life trajectories, they each reach the end of no return.
This is a cruel story about Chinese brothers, the division between urban and rural areas, and the dignity of the bottom. It records those "invisible people" who survive in the cracks of the city, and the entire process of their being priced out, liquidated, and ultimately silenced.
