YOUTH (HARD TIMES)

Individual and collective stories unfold in Zhili's textile workshops, becoming ever more dramatic as seasons go by. Fu Yun keeps making mistakes and is mocked by her colleagues. Xu Wanxiang can't find his notebook, without which his boss refuses to pay him his wages. Hu Siwen tells the story of recent local riots: police brutality, imprisonment and fear. From atop a passageway, a group of employees watch their indebted boss beat up a supplier. In another workshop, the manager has taken off with the money. The workers find themselves alone, robbed of the fruits of their labour.