Endeavor

蔡文华Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaSep 2026

Rating 2.7
Word count
260K words
Chapters
66
ISBN
9787541160820

Tags

Social Fiction Common ProsperityRural DevelopmentGrassroots Party BranchPolicy PracticePoverty AlleviationTypical Character

Summary

Since the 1980s, a group of young people from rural villages, carrying bewilderment, anguish, confusion and ideals, seized the great opportunities of the era and became township-recruited cadres working half in office and half on the land. Enduring hardship and humiliation, they strove to strengthen themselves, took root at the grassroots, and toiled day and night through wind and rain for agricultural modernization, rural development and farmers' march toward moderate prosperity, devoting their youth and strength. Yet driven by the straitened finances of township governments and narrow group interests, they also defied the authority of discipline and law, increased farmers' burdens, harmed the interests of the masses and tore apart the ties between the Party and the people and between cadres and the people—wounds so deep and painful that they took years to heal. It was precisely the steady replenishment and joining of these recruited cadres that injected boundless vitality and vigor into the withered, feeble ranks of township cadres. Tempered by the years and tested in practice, they gradually became more rigorous in their demands, more capable and more experienced; the vast majority grew into indispensable backbones and mainstays of township work and successfully achieved the turnaround of "conversion from contract to regular status," becoming the formally established state cadres they had long dreamed of, and "converting from rural to non-rural registration" to become city dwellers, tasting the superiority and sweetness of commodity grain. Some rose to leadership posts in districts and townships, some became heads of county-level departments, and a few of exceptional ability were even promoted to leadership at or above the county level.

Editor's review

This book takes as its subject the group of township-recruited cadres since the 1980s, filling in a piece of historical memory rarely presented systematically in the literature on grassroots cadres. The author, Cai Wenhua, has long been rooted at the grassroots, and his writing is solid: he captures both the striving and growth of these half-worker, half-farmer youths amid the opportunities of the era, and does not shy away from the deep wounds they inflicted—under fiscal pressure and driven by narrow group interests—by increasing farmers' burdens and harming the interests of the masses. The work's value lies in neither beautifying nor simplifying, examining a generation of grassroots cadres' youth, ideals, struggles and transformation against the larger backdrop of rural modernization, showing both the rises and falls of individual fates and the projection of institutional change. The narrative is plain and the details are rich, making it suitable for readers interested in grassroots governance, the history of rural development and the growth of cadres. It can be read as a sociological group portrait in documentary form, in which the complexity and weight of an era's transformation are felt through the fates of its characters.

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Reading tips

  1. Begin with the table of contents to clarify the timeline and the group portrait, then follow the recruited cadres' trajectory of growth stage by stage.
  2. Pay attention to passages on fiscal pressure and conflicts with the masses' interests, and reflect on them in light of real-world grassroots governance.
  3. Read alongside materials on the history of rural reform and changes in the township system for deeper understanding.

About the publisher

Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1984

Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House is a professional literary and art publishing institution. It mainly publishes books on contemporary and modern literature, foreign literature, poetry and prose, music and art, and literary theory. Judging from the books in the database, the house places considerable emphasis on classic works and foreign literature. Representative titles include Lu Xun's Call to Arms and Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, Lao She's Camel Xiangzi, Xiao Hong's The Story of Hulan River, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. Its translator resources include Deng Jiawan, Shi Zhongge, Du Yunci, and Zhu Shenghao. Common categories include social fiction, classic works, foreign literature, world classics, literary appreciation, and classical poetry, reflecting a publishing profile that balances Chinese and foreign literary classics with literary appreciation.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 楔子 出事
  3. 〇、人在家中坐，祸从天上落
  4. 第一章 出发
  5. 一、高考落榜
  6. 二、走马上任村团支书
  7. 三、接手村煤厂出纳
  8. 四、外出学习取经
  9. 五、一个月工资泡汤
  10. 六、召开村团支委会
  11. 七、发展团办经济
  12. 八、组织文娱活动
  13. 九、排练总算正常
  14. 一〇、柑橘苗到了
  15. 一一、人海战术
  16. 一二、上“村晚”
  17. 一三、拜年
  18. 一四、小有名气
  19. 一五、有人关心入党
  20. 一六、“情窦初开”
  21. 一七、报名招聘干部考试
  22. 第二章 出道
  23. 一八、出乎意料当上乡干部
  24. 一九、有人尊称“官名”
  25. 二〇、代班
  26. 二一、打狗灭犬
  27. 二二、为总结会和聚餐会服务
  28. 二三、开展演讲比赛
  29. 二四、函授学习
  30. 二五、好事跟着来
  31. 二六、来了新的区委书记
  32. 二七、重访缠访
  33. 第三章 出彩
  34. 二八、擢升区团工委书记
  35. 二九、同事被解聘
  36. 三〇、扮演秘书角色
  37. 三一、陪会
  38. 三二、谈情说爱
  39. 三三、双方家庭反对恋爱
  40. 三四、荣升乡党委书记
  41. 三五、不信不投降
  42. 三六、发表施政演说
  43. 三七、催粮催款
  44. 三八、振兴苎麻产业
  45. 三九、死人事件后果严重
  46. 四〇、麻纺厂破土动工
  47. 四一、盼来“聘转录”
  48. 四二、村煤厂发生不幸
  49. 四三、旅游结婚
  50. 第四章 出局
  51. 四四、当好助手
  52. 四五、干旱和稻飞虱一齐来
  53. 四六、稳坐副书记岗位
  54. 四七、登顶区委
  55. 四八、再任乡党委书记
  56. 四九、被纪委带走
  57. 第五章 出名
  58. 五〇、诀别乡机关
  59. 五一、夫妻生嫌隙
  60. 五二、遭人嫌弃
  61. 五三、面临生存危机
  62. 五四、满脑子做生意
  63. 五五、一门心思办厂
  64. 五六、天佑勤劳者
  65. 五七、组建集团公司
  66. 跋——意犹未尽的话

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a work of documentary writing? Judging from the materials, the book draws on the real collective experiences of township-recruited cadres since the 1980s and bears strong documentary and group-portrait characteristics; for the exact genre, however, consult the copyright page and preface of the published book. It can be read as a realistic narrative of grassroots cadres' growth and rural change.
Does the book address the negative problems of recruited cadres? Yes. The materials explicitly mention that some recruited cadres, driven by straitened township finances and narrow group interests, defied the authority of discipline and law, increased farmers' burdens, harmed the masses' interests and tore apart Party-mass and cadre-mass relations. The work does not avoid this side but presents the wounds together with the healing, giving readers a fuller understanding.
Can readers unfamiliar with the township system understand it? Yes. The book is driven mainly by characters' experiences and stories, and era-specific concepts such as "half-worker, half-farmer," "conversion from contract to regular status" and "conversion from rural to non-rural registration" are naturally introduced in the narrative. If the institutional background is unfamiliar, a basic grasp of township-recruited cadres, commodity grain and rural-to-non-rural conversion will make the reading smoother.

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About the author

蔡文华 Author

Cai Wenhua: currently, publicly available information is limited, and basic details such as a full biography, nationality, and dates of birth and death cannot yet be confirmed. According to the library's holdings, only one work appears under this name: the social novel Fenmian (Striving). Based on the available information, this work is classified as a social novel, suggesting that its subject matter leans toward realistic social life and may center on ordinary people's circumstances, choices, and efforts; the title itself also hints that the work concerns self-encouragement and striving under real-life pressure. Owing to the lack of biographical materials, the author's own statements on writing, and related criticism, it is difficult at present to make a precise judgment about Cai Wenhua's writing style, literary influences, or social impact, and it would be inappropriate to generalize about the author's overall creative profile on the basis of a single work. Readers who wish to learn about Cai Wenhua may begin with Fenmian and consider its thematic concerns and narrative features through reading; fuller author information still awaits further public materials.