A HARSH TRANSITION

In the 1950s, a scientific elite with individuals chosen from all over the country and from abroad was assembled to develop the nuclear power of China in a remote area of the desert Gobi, northwest China ; After the Economic Reform and Opening of China in the 1980s, the government supported employees by importing the advanced technologies from abroad and established the largest factory of TiO2 (titanium dioxide) of China. In 2007, HYTD is listed. In 2009, the global financial crisis and the transformation of China’s economic system strike the company down and put the 1200 employees struggling on the edge of poverty. Live or die? A battle was waged between different parties: employees, manager, investors, share-holders... Through years of tracking, this documentary shows the true battle of this Chinese company within a hybrid communist-liberal economy. The ups and downs of this struggle is vividly narrated through the interviews from different angles with all the critical people in-volved.