Reborn in 1983: The Rise of an Industrial Group

In 2026, sixty-five-year-old chief equipment engineer Chen Jianjun collapses at a maintenance site. When he opens his eyes again, he's lying on a cot in the major overhaul workshop of Hongxing County Agricultural Machinery Factory in 1983. This year, he's twenty-two, a Grade Two fitter, and the least noticeable tradesman in the whole factory. The factory has just taken on a major overhaul job for 165 walking tractors from across the region, and the inspection team will arrive in three days. A 195 diesel engine that belches black smoke and rattles the test stand has held up the assembly line for half a month. Eight veteran mechanics have taken turns working on it, but none can fix it. The workshop director is considering making Chen Jianjun's master take the blame. Chen Jianjun rolls up his sleeves. "I'll take this job."

While others repair one machine, he redesigns an entire process. While others rely on a master mechanic's touch, he turns that touch into a standard. While others focus on getting a machine fixed, he starts thinking about how to make the whole factory run faster. That year, a central government document has just called for loosening restrictions on rural industry and commerce, and township enterprises are on the verge of taking off. Chen Jianjun knows that what puts him ahead of his time isn't any one piece of cutting-edge technology, but forty years of engineering know-how.