A Bowl of Hot Rice

Cui Tieshan is a rebar-crew foreman working hard on construction sites with his men. Over an extra scoop of rice he is insulted and breaks with the greedy canteen owner Ma Changgui. He brings his thirty workers to the nearly-shut Xiaoman canteen and teaches its owner, Xu Xiaoman, a simple rule: honest prices and a clean deal. Business picks up, but Ma Changgui fights dirty — price cuts, rumors, cut water and power, and on a freezing night he smashes the generator, leaving four hundred workers without a hot dinner. So Cui Tieshan leads everyone in building stoves of brick, coal and water: keeping the meals hot means keeping working people's dignity. When the truth comes out, the Xiaoman canteen becomes the kitchen people trust, and Xu Xiaoman grows into an owner who honors the rules and owns up to responsibility.