There is a group of young people who hold master's and doctor's degrees from prestigious universities. They are generally thought to be successful and are bound to have promising careers. In their best years they choose to go to poor townships and villages， engaging in the great battle against poverty and doing their bit to make a difference in China's rural areas. Between their middle twenties and early thirties， they undergo hardships and challenges rarely experienced by their peers， doing the

Su Yongli： The Poverty Relief Official Who Could Have Become a Missile Engineer Yang Yongchong： From an Academic Overachiever to a Real-world Problem Solver Chen Meng： Working at the Grassroots Level Was My First Choice Lu Yan： A Pragmatic Idealist Yu Weidong： To Live a More Wonderful Life Qi Lu： A Young Man Who Pursues His Own Path Liu Dongming： Poverty Alleviation Through Tourism． Han Xiao： A Responsible Cadre at the Grassroots Level Liu Mei： "I Want to Take on More Responsibilities" Sun Tiejun： Always Aim High and Achieve Life Goals Yu Yang： To Crack the Hardest Nut and Be the First Secretary of the Poorest Village in Guangxi Postscript