Records of Setting up a Baby Raising Factory in Shanghai in 1985

In Shanghai in 1985, the tide of the Huangpu River was surging with the heat of reform, and the state-owned Red Star Textile Factory was on the verge of closure. Su Yong, a graduate of the English Department of Fudan University, was supposed to report to the Foreign Affairs Office, but due to the unexpected death of her best friend, she took the initiative to take over the responsibility of taking care of her two orphans. She became the temporary guardian of the seven-year-old aphasic Zhou Xiaofeng and the five-year-old timid Zhou Xiaoyu, raising a non-blood family in the tube building. When a German company came to negotiate the introduction of equipment, Su Yue was pushed to the front line of negotiations because of her bilingual skills and background in a textile family, and met Zhou Yanzhou, the deputy director who was appointed at a critical moment. This technical idealist who graduated from Tsinghua University understands machinery but does not know how to deal with things. Su Yong relied on the notes left by her father and her international perspective to not only break the deadlock in negotiations, but also proposed a "window for processing of supplied materials" to earn foreign exchange, finding a way out for the factory in the game between the old school and the new school. From temporary translator to foreign trade section chief, from temporary guardianship to court custody battles, Su Yong and Zhou Yanzhou changed from career comrades to life partners amidst the roar of the workshop and the crying of their children. They worked together to crack down on German technology fraud and promote the establishment of a factory-run research institute, making the Red Star Factory a model for Shanghai's textile reform. They also accompanied the children to overcome trauma, allowing the family of four in the tube building to interpret the family affection and responsibility that transcends blood ties in the tide of the times. As the blueprint for the development of Pudong unfolds, this family that was forged in the wave of reform also moves towards a broader...