Building Realms

In 1976, Chen Xin was born in a rural village in Northeast China. His mother was frail and had already given birth to four daughters. His father was a bricklayer who spent his whole life using just three tools: a brick trowel, a plumb line, and a chalk line. His grandfather placed the Xinhua Dictionary beneath his head and said that a child who grew up sleeping on books would amount to something. Six years of walking to school, covering seventy-two li every day. Three college entrance exams, two failures. He nearly took to the skies, but in the end he walked through the gates of an architecture university. From a rural village in Northeast China to an architectural design institute, from draftsman to chief architect: it took him a lifetime to learn how to build houses. This is a true story. No golden finger, just someone who wakes before the alarm goes off.