Deputy Town Mayor on Assignment: Turning a Poor Town into an Industrial Gem

[Officialdom] [Urban Realism] [Political Career] The notice of his transfer back to the city had barely reached Tang Chen when he received an order that was effectively a banishment: He was to take a temporary post in Jihu Town and meet a forty-million investment-attraction quota! This was a poor town with the lowest public revenues, muddy roads, dying businesses, and entrenched old powers. Everyone was waiting to see how this young deputy mayor, with no connections, would leave in disgrace a year later. But Tang Chen refused to bow his head. He picked up a broom and started by cleaning up the streets. He blocked illegal land grabs, rescued a dying garment factory, opened up e-commerce sales, and turned an illegal sand-mining fleet into a legitimate transport company. Others padded their records with empty agreements. He drew a firm line in public: “If the money hasn't been invested, the project hasn't been built, and no jobs have been created, it doesn't count as investment-attraction results!” When the forty-million quota was bearing down on him, he turned around and secured an industrial project worth 260 million. When the old powers tried to force him to back down with demolition and public pressure, he opened the books and dragged the interest network that had ruled Jihu for years, inch by inch, into the sunlight. While everyone else was fighting over credit and power, Tang Chen asked just one thing: “When will construction begin? When will the workers start? When will the people actually receive the benefits?” His year-long appointment came to an end. The once-overlooked poor town was now poised to ride the wave of projects worth three billion.