A Town Built by the People
▲Scenes from the popular TV series Xiao Cheng Da Shi that show a meeting (top) and town cadres (above) rallying against a typhoon. The drama chronicles an urbanization miracle in which a town was built on wetlands without state funding. CHINA DAILY
Inspired by real events in Longgang, a new TV series tells the story of unprecedented urban development, Xu Fan reports.
Over 40 years ago, it would have been a dream come true for a Chinese farmer to leave the isolated countryside and become an urban resident. Such a shift in identity — marked by obtaining a hukou booklet, or household registration certificate — would bring a range of benefits, including access to healthcare, education, and better business opportunities.
This helps today's young viewers better understand one of the most gripping scenes in Xiao Cheng Da Shi (The Dream Maker), a popular television drama based on award-winning writer Zhu Xiaojun's nonfiction book Zhongguo Nongmincheng (Chinese Farmers City).
In one scene, an estimated 20,000 farmers from nearby villages flood into Yuehai, a town built on wetlands, eagerly paying a substantial sum for the right to use a parcel of land.
What makes it miraculous is how Yuehai's transformation — from barren wetlands to a town lined with skyscrapers and broad streets — was achieved: not a single penny came from state funds. Instead, it was financed entirely by ordinary people, a diverse group ranging from local farmers and private entrepreneurs to urban investors.
▲Scenes from the popular TV series Xiao Cheng Da Shi that show a meeting (top) and town cadres (above) rallying against a typhoon. The drama chronicles an urbanization miracle in which a town was built on wetlands without state funding. CHINA DAILY
Zhu's book, published in December 2021, was shaped by the writer's interviews with nearly 100 people who personally experienced the birth and development of Longgang, a county-level city administered by Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province.
Once an area of tidal flats made up of five fishing villages and home to 8,000 residents, Longgang is regarded as a pioneer in the country's urbanization campaign. It underwent three milestone transformations: being designated as a town relying on self-raised money in 1984, named "China's printing city" in 2002, and becoming the nation's first town-turned-city in 2019.
Director Sun Hao was captivated by the project while he was still engaged in post-production work for the second season of the costume drama Joy of Life.
Sun was a college student at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in 1986, and he found that the story — centered on a group of local officials leading townspeople to strive for economic development — evoked the vigorous, resolute ethos of that earlier era: a time when dreams, pursued with diligence, often came within reach.
▲Director Sun Hao describes the drama as a blessing sent from the vibrant 1980s to today's youth. CHINA DAILY
In late 2023, he visited Longgang alongside fellow creators and interviewed locals who were there at the time. "Most of the interviewees are now in their 60s or 70s, with the oldest in their 80s. Yet, when they speak of those years, their eyes still light up," recalls Sun.
Told with a light, comedic touch, the 40-episode drama stars Huang Xiaoming as Zheng Decheng, a veteran cadre with 19 years of service, and Zhao Liying as Li Qiuping, an ambitious college graduate educated in France. They arrive in Yuehai town as newly appointed Party chief and mayor, respectively, bringing sharply different ideas about governance.
Zheng works with instinct and personal bravado, occasionally veering into impulsiveness. Li, by contrast, believes in procedure, rules and institutional order. As the project of building a new town unfolds, their opposing styles collide, then gradually converge, as mutual misunderstanding gives way to cooperation in the face of mounting challenges.
Set against the backdrop of the coastal areas' development in the 1980s — when attracting outside investment was widely seen as a key to economic revival — the drama mirrors the era's social dynamics.
In one plotline, Zheng wins over five entrepreneurs from Northeast China through heavy drinking, a ritual emblematic of early business culture, ultimately securing a major order for the town's printing factory. In another scene, he helps two local merchants earn the trust of a Hong Kong entrepreneur, persuading her to become the angel investor for a street dedicated to the town's cluster of printing factories.
"The two characters each possess their own kind of charisma. For example, Zheng rises through fieldwork. He understands what farmers need and is willing to fully devote himself to protecting their interests. That is why he earns their trust," says Sun.
As revealed in the dialogue, Zheng had previously served as a Party chief in another district, where he led local farmers to raise softshell turtles — a venture that ultimately failed. Rather than walking away, he chose to compensate the farmers out of his own pocket. Confronted with losses totaling 10,000 yuan ($1,438), he paid 2,000 yuan, his entire savings, and continued to deduct 50 yuan from his monthly salary as compensation, a commitment that lasted for eight years.
"Like the line in the drama that declares, 'the people's interests come above all else', what I hope to tell is not merely the story of a city rising from the ground, but of an era reshaped by a group of ordinary people," Sun adds.
In pursuit of an authentic portrait of the 1980s, Sun says the production team spent several months conducting research across the country before settling on three cities in Fujian province — Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Sanming — as principal filming locations, with over 130 sets constructed.
Sun was exacting about props, insisting that every item used on set be something that truly existed in the era. For instance, in the 1980s, many Chinese households owned black-and-white televisions, typically 12 or 14 inches in size. To improve the viewing experience, people often attached a special magnifying lens over the screen to enlarge the image. Some went a step further, placing colored paper over the screen to turn black-and-white images into color.
"It was a bit of a crude solution. The sky would basically 'become'b lue, and the ground 'become' brown. From today's perspective, it's almost unimaginable. Our country has advanced so quickly that many things once considered fashionable are now completely unknown to younger generations,"Sun explains.
"I hope younger viewers, while watching this drama, will feel as if they're browsing through a supermarket, selecting the elements that resonate with them. This drama is a blessing sent from the vibrant 1980s to the China of over four decades later," says the director.
Contact the writer at xufan@chinadaily.com.cn