Fifty Years in the Mortal World

In 1976, the Tangshan earthquake struck.

Eighteen-year-old Zhao Feng dug his father's body out of the ruins. His father was dead, but his hand still gripped a dented enamel mug. Blood obscured the stamp on the bottom. After wiping at it for ages, Zhao Feng managed to make out a single character: Tang.

He didn't know that this battered mug was an honor his grandfather's generation had fought for with their lives: a commemorative mug for the team that had tackled the challenge of achieving 0.03-millimeter precision, and the root of the Zhao family's craft, passed down through three generations.

His mother was coughing up blood, and the family had nothing. He tore up his college entrance exam admission ticket and went with the enamel mug to the countryside of northern Jiangsu.

He earned work points on the commune, repaired bicycles in the county town, and took over a bankrupt township machinery factory... Others laughed at him for being a fool, but he kept his head down and worked.

He seized the first wave of opportunities brought by reform and opening up. A tiny workshop grew into Cangzhou's largest precision manufacturing company.

After China joined the WTO, foreign companies tried to crush him, but he stood firm. He brought Chinese precision manufacturing to the forefront of the world.

When his rebellious son wanted to go into the internet business, he slapped the table: “The Zhao family's roots are on the factory floor, not on a keyboard!”

Fifty years, three generations, one enamel mug.

From the ruins of Tangshan to the world stage.

This is the fifty-year struggle of a Chinese manufacturing family.

Fifty years of life, its rises and falls all part of a brilliant tale.