The Torrent

In the 1980s, the tide of reform and opening up surged across China.

Some people were swept away by the current. Others emerged covered in mud and were forced to leave. Only those who ultimately swam against the tide could be called masters of the waves.

Dong Ge, a villager from Dongpoji in his early twenties, headed south alone with a dream and started a clothing business.

His business went from losing money to making a profit, from unfamiliar to well established. With his wife's support, Dong Ge became one of the village's first households with ten thousand yuan in savings, riding the wave of change.

His business kept growing, and his connections kept expanding.

In the early 2000s, at the height of his success, Dong Ge knew when to step back. He picked up the old hoe of a farmer once more.

As the times changed, Dong Ge cultivated more and more land, on an ever larger scale.

The opportunities brought by rural revitalization made Dong Ge a master of the waves once again.

As one of the first farmers to transfer land-use rights, he worked tirelessly and benefited from government support, eventually becoming Dongpoji's biggest farmer and a new kind of farmer in a new era.