Counterattack 1999: Starting from Laid-Off Model Workers

Taking the reform of state-owned enterprises in Northeast China in the late 1990s as the background, it focuses on the struggle and survival of Zhao Zhigang's family, an ordinary worker in Tiexi District, Shenyang, in the changing times. The story begins with the "buyout of seniority" at a machinery factory, and depicts the journey of model worker Zhao Zhigang and his wife Sun Xiaoya from initial confusion and despair, to being forced to set up a street stall, to being hit hard by the freeze, and Sun Xiaoya resolutely going south to kick off the family's "Tale of Two Cities." Through details full of quality of life and Northeastern black humor, it shows the resilience, wisdom and warmth of mutual support displayed by ordinary Chinese people in the face of huge life changes, and records the hesitation and struggle of a generation in the process of transforming from a planned economy to a market economy.