It’s the late 1980s and the Chinese economic reform is in full swing. The newest province – Hainan – Has just been formed and is granted status as the largest Special Economic Zone of China (SEZ) by the central government, attracting many companies as well as young and ambitious graduates around the country to pursue their dreams of a better life, forming a fascinating 1980s movement of ‘Hainan Heat’. Twenty-seven-year-old Kathy Liao, with a university degree of liter...
It’s the late 1980s and the Chinese economic reform is in full swing. The newest province – Hainan – Has just been formed and is granted status as the largest Special Economic Zone of China (SEZ) by the central government, attracting many companies as well as young and ambitious graduates around the country to pursue their dreams of a better life, forming a fascinating 1980s movement of ‘Hainan Heat’. Twenty-seven-year-old Kathy Liao, with a university degree of literature and management, takes a two-week holiday in Haikou, the tropical coastal capital of Hainan province, to see what life the SEZ can offer. She sends a letter of introduction given by a friend who is a secretary of the mayor of her hometown, to the general secretary of the municipal government of Haikou who opens the door of the SEZ for her. Kathy becomes a newspaper journalist before her two-week holiday is over. Her life is then overtaken by a series of twists both emotional and professional. She falls in love with handsome and smart CEO who has boundless prospects and is married. Kathy is at the peak of her career in PR at the China branch of the multinational group who is about to develop a major national pilot programme in South China when the Tiananmen Square event takes place, resulting in a widely teaming up Economic Sanctions by the West. How will the grim sanction directly affect her little world? will she survive?
