Novels About Making It in a Special Economic Zone in the 1990s 九十年代去特区打拼的小说

1. 101 双 Crossing Between Two Worlds: From the Start in 1952, I Was Already a County-Level Cadre 双穿一九五二开局就是正科级 Good Luck Keeps Coming好运不断Urban443k WordsOngoing In 2026, Su Tianci accidentally transmigrated to the war-torn Korean battlefield. Fortunately, he had brought along a pocket dimension. The System grabbed a bucket and ran. To return to 2026, he had to reach the siheyuan. Two vast eras lay before him. 28.5kReads5.5Score1.6kShelves

   Reader note

   Don't be afraid

2. 102 在 In the ’80s, Pretending to Be a Returnee Tycoon 在八零，伪装归国神豪 Trying to Stay Alive2努力活着2Urban239k WordsOngoing Su Tianci, an overworked office drone in 2026, accidentally transmigrates to the resource-scarce 1980s. Fortunately, he can still return to 2026. Two vastly different eras now lie before him. 22Reads—Score127Shelves
3. 103 双 Traveling Between Two Worlds to Fight in Korea, I Beat Up the Americans 双穿抗美援朝，我暴打美国佬 Trying to Stay Alive 999努力活着999Historical632k WordsOngoing In 2026, overworked wage slave Su Tianci gets his writing royalties. He plans to go out for a foot massage with the full-service treatment, as a reward for himself. But he never expects to open his eyes and transmigrate to a battlefield engulfed in war. There’s no water, medicine, or food. Fortunately, he can return to 2026. Two vastly different eras now lie before him. 24.7kReads7.2Score1.7kShelves
4. 104 双 Double Crossing to the Sixties, Hauling in 2026 双穿六零，搬运2026 Trying to Stay Alive2努力活着2Urban127k WordsOngoing Set aside your personal standards and enjoy a life without scruples. Refuse to wear yourself down with overthinking; when something happens, just lose it. Better to inconvenience others than make yourself miserable. Su Tianci from 2026 unexpectedly transmigrates to the materially deprived 1960s. Two vast eras now lie before him. 591Reads—Score—Shelves
5. 105 双 Traveling Between Two Worlds in Republican-Era China: Hunting Down the Japanese 双穿民国之专杀小鬼子 Good Luck Keeps Coming好运不断Urban117k WordsOngoing Drop all pretenses of decency and enjoy a shameless life. Refuse to overthink things; when trouble comes, just go crazy. Better to inconvenience others than make yourself suffer. That was Su Tianci in 2026. He'd only joined a cycling club because he wanted to talk about cycling technique. Who could have guessed he'd somehow fall off a cliff? When he came to, he'd transmigrated to Shanghai in 1937... 1.1kReads—Score159Shelves
6. 106 公 Upholding Justice 公义立身 Bright Sunny Day灿烂晴天Urban102k WordsCompleted Xu Zhiqiang was born into a poor rural family in the 1960s. Through sheer hard work, he got into university. After graduating, he was assigned to work at a steel mill, where he brought a near-bankrupt factory back from the brink. Later, an anonymous letter changed the course of his life once again. After enduring setbacks in life as well as pressure and blows at work, Xu Zhiqiang entered the real estate business and rose to the pinnacle of success. 16Reads—Score—Shelves

   Reader note

   This is a story about a person who suffered greatly from birth to university, then graduated, worked, and eventually went south to work and start a business.

7. 107 南 Leaving on the Journey South 南下归途离开 Shanjiu's Home杉玖家Urban371k WordsCompleted Every so often, a generation leaves home to make a living, leaving its youth behind on construction sites and streets far from home. Our fathers left the mountains with worn-out woven-plastic bags on their backs, heading south to find work. They knew nothing of polished talk. They only knew to keep their heads down and work hard, relying on brute strength to feed their families. They lived in cramped shacks, endured grueling day and night shifts, and swallowed their homesickness and grievances. 24Reads—Score—Shelves

   Reader note

   Four generations, one lamp—this is the story of a family, and also a microcosm of a generation. The first generation: The lamp-keeper. Her name was Yuan Zhoushi. She lost her husband at thirty and raised her two young sons alone. Her husband died on the construction site of the Hunan-Guizhou Railway, leaving no trace, not even a proper photograph. She lit the kerosene lamp, placed it on the altar in the main room, and said one sentence—"The lamp must not go out." She said this her entire life. She lived to ninety-seven, watching her son go south to work, her eldest grandson sacrifice his life on the battlefield, and her great-grandson celebrate his one-month birthday. She passed away on the ninth day of the seventh lunar month, a day ending in nine. Villagers said she returned with her ancestors. Her hands were covered in calluses. She was still shelling beans at seventy. She never enjoyed a single day of happiness in her life, but she planted the roots of the Yuan family deep in the soil. The second generation: Those who went south. Shoujiang and Shoushan were the second generation of the Yuan family. Shoujiang joined the army to serve his country and sacrificed his life at Hill 303 in the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War at the age of twenty-one. When he died, he was still wearing the new shirt his mother had sent him, the collar buttoned up neatly. He left a message: "Tell my brother to take care of this family." Shoushan went south to work, tying steel bars on construction sites for over thirty years. He earned eight yuan a day, sending six home. He lived in a rented room in Guangzhou for twenty years, a tin-roofed room that was unbearably hot in the summer. He built a road with his pension, naming it Chengye Road—his son's name, who died while rescuing people in the Wenchuan earthquake. He was sixty-five when he died, cement dust still clinging to his fingers. In his entire life, he never lived in a nice house, never ate a decent meal, but he supported his family and raised three sons. He never complained of being tired. The third generation: Chengzhi, who remained, never met his father. When Shoujiang died, he was still in his mother's womb. He grew up with his mother by the Xishui River, dropping out of junior high to learn how to repair farm machinery. He opened a repair shop in the county town, married, had children, and raised Nianjun and Nianmin. He was illiterate, but he took the family genealogy and wrote his name on it. Cheng'an was admitted to Tianjin University and became an algorithm engineer in Changsha. Cheng Lin stayed in the county town to run an advertising shop and take care of his parents. Cheng Ye went to the army and never returned. The fourth generation: Nian'en, who remembers, drew a family portrait, including all those who had passed away—his great-grandmother sitting under the osmanthus tree, a smile on her lips; his grandfather leaning on his cane, with Hu Zi lying at his feet. Nianzu used AI to generate a photo of his grandfather in his youth, allowing someone who had never had many photos taken in his life to live again. The light is still on. The river still flows. Four generations, one river, one light. Those who built roads, those who sacrificed, those who worked, those who waited, those who remember—they are all the same group of people. They have no names, but they built the country. They deserve to be remembered.

8. 108 兵 Marching Out of the Ten Thousand Mountains to Reclaim Our Homeland and Expand Our Borders 兵出十万大山，复故土拓新疆 The Twenty-Five-Thousand-Li Long March二万五千里长征路Historical885k WordsOngoing Liu Yongfu went up the mountain to gather firewood. In a dream, an old man told him that he was a mighty general who should defend his home and protect his people. When he woke, he also had a new set of memories from the future. Liu Yongfu decided that, besides defending his homeland, he should find the Han people a place to settle, help them survive more than a decade of war and natural disasters, and fight against imperialism... [Some parts of this story take liberties with history, or happen 5.4kReads—Score385Shelves

   Reader note

   The male protagonist is reborn and leads his fellow villagers and soldiers out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, creating a new world for the Han people.

9. 109 回 After the College Entrance Exam, I Used My Foresight to Become a Tycoon 回到高考后，利用先知成富豪 The Twenty-Five-Thousand-Li Long March二万五千里长征路Urban841k WordsCompleted By a twist of fate, Chen Feiyu returns to the day after his class reunion, held after the college entrance exam. Using his information advantage, he makes up for past regrets. From the start, he sets his sights on the Brazil World Cup to earn his first fortune, then uses his expertise and memories to grow his money in the stock market. He also keeps in touch with his high school crush and his senior from university, wins the hearts of both beauties, and becomes a winner in life! 2.7kReads—Score104Shelves
10. 110 重 Reborn in 1990: The System Forces Me to Become the Village Tyrant 重生90：系统逼我当村霸 Ni Linsheng逆鳞生Rural Life544k WordsOngoing [Period setting + System + village bully + reborn + farming and business + face-slapping wish fulfillment] In 2026, overworked office drone Zhou Ye dies suddenly after staying up all night. When he opens his eyes, he's back in 1990. He's become the bully whom all 3,000 villagers are chasing around to curse. His family is so poor they're starving. His older sister has to drop out of school, a supposedly good man in the village is running a scam, and an orphan girl is about to be sold. System: [St 110Reads—Score—Shelves

    Reader note

    A dreamlike return to the rural life of the 1990s, where an arrogant village bully rewrites his destiny; this period drama is so addictive, the more you read it, the more you'll be hooked.

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