Combat Beneath the Podium: The Title Promotion Siege

A realist novel exposing the hidden workings of professional title evaluations in China’s education system. The story follows Chen Dehai, a fifty-eight-year-old veteran teacher at Mingcheng No. 1 High School. After thirty-five years of teaching, guiding fourteen graduating classes, and producing three top scorers in the city’s college entrance exams, he is repeatedly passed over for a senior professional title because he refuses to play politics or give gifts. The book is both a profound reflection on the education system and a tragic, stirring ode to dignity and perseverance. It shows that within the walled city of professional titles, some people fall into corruption, some struggle, and some refuse to bow their heads until the very end.