The past is another country

China's 'Rust Belt'

It is not the first time that Northeast China has attracted audience attention. Once referred to as "the eldest son of the People's Republic of China" by Mao Zedong, the former industrial heartland－consisting of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces－gradually lost its luster and lagged behind economically since the reform and opening-up began in the late 1970s.

From the early 2000s, due to the government's decision to close down or transform inefficient State-owned enterprises, numerous working-class families were affected. In a way, the country's "Rust Belt" region has provided a different angle to observe modern China.

As a result, related themes have been popular in literature and on the screen, from films such as The Piano in a Factory in 2010 and Black Coal, Thin Ice in 2014, to novels such as Winter Swimming by Ban Yu and Moses in the Plain by Shuang Xuetao.

In 2017, Liang's novel Renshijian (A Lifelong Journey) was published and two years later, it won the Mao Dun Literature Prize－one of China's most prestigious literary honors.

"For a long time, I had wanted to write a novel for Chinese workers, a revered group of people who have sacrificed their family life and achieved great things in propelling the economic development of China," Liang told China Daily in a previous interview.

Talking about why take the novel to screen, director Li says through the TV drama, he hopes to make the generations that are growing old be seen.

Contact the writer at wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn