A Common Scholar's Mission to Serve the World

Shen Yan, a scholar, fails the imperial exam because his policy essay emphasizes practical governance for the people's livelihood. Taking advantage of a hundred-day study tour offered by the prefectural academy, he travels through seven prefectures with Liu Qinghe, a bookshop manager, and others. They inspect river embankments and granaries, untangle the chaos of inconsistent weights and measures, resolve a paper-mill dispute, and confront institutional abuses head-on. Letting go of his obsession with official rank, he joins forces with people from all walks of life to compile a practical-knowledge manual, Rivers and Mountains on Paper, using pragmatic learning to benefit the countryside and embodying the true ideal of a scholar.