Home-Scented Congee Shop

In 1983, Chen Yongfu, a man from Chaoshan, brought his wife and children to make their fortune in Shenzhen, carrying all their savings with them. Beneath an old banyan tree on Luohu Old Street, they rented a ten-square-meter shop and named it Jiaxiang Congee Shop. With a pot of plain congee and two kinds of pickles, they began putting down roots in the Special Economic Zone. From the first bowl of congee served to a construction worker to the late-night confidences of a down-and-out Hong Kong businessman, from helping a desperate migrant worker to witnessing a mother's heartbreak and joyful reunion after losing her child, the unassuming congee shop became a miniature portrait of Shenzhen's immigrant community. As the city's roaring bulldozers drew closer to the old street, the shop's fate became tightly intertwined with the development of the Special Economic Zone. Over thirty years of ups and downs, the shop moved from the old street to a shopping mall and grew from selling bowls of plain congee into the Jiaxiang brand, shipped to destinations far and wide. This is a story about food, family, and the untamed growth of a city, with a lingering flavor.

Theme: Through the thirty-year struggle of a Chaoshan family running a congee shop in Shenzhen, this novel uses a small story to reflect the sweeping changes Shenzhen has undergone since reform and opening up, from a border town to an international metropolis. Its central message is that behind the grand narrative of the times and “Shenzhen speed” lies the epic story of countless ordinary people making a life with their sweat, warmth, and resilience. The story celebrates not a business miracle, but the bonds of “family” and the longing for “roots” amid the everyday bustle. It asks what it truly means to gain something and hold on to it in an age of rapid change.