The Township Entrepreneur

Township Entrepreneurs is a contemporary realist novel focused on the development of an era. It follows the growth of township entrepreneurs represented by young founder Liu Zhenghong, while also weaving in delicate threads of romance.

Anchored in the economic transformation of Tianhe Town in northern Jiangsu in 1995, the story uses multiple narrative threads to intertwine the journey of Liu Zhenghong’s food factory, from its founding through its growth, with the changing fortunes of him and the entrepreneurs and supporters around him. The growing understanding between him and his business partners as their ideas clash, and the emotional tensions with his family under the pressures of reality, bring a tender, lived-in quality to this story of striving.

Using lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice, a local specialty rooted in the region’s character, as its distinctive point of entry, the novel vividly portrays the many challenges township entrepreneurs face in securing resources and opening up markets, as well as their resilience in breaking through. Through the emotional bonds between its characters, it also makes individual choices amid the tides of change feel all the more vivid, while offering a profound reflection on the distinctive path of China’s township economy in a particular historical era.