In the early 1980s, an ordinary plant was the cause of considerable controversy. Sometimes called green gold, it was the kafir lily, and for a while it was at the centre of a craze.

In the summer of 1984, a local newspaper in Changchun reported that the public security police were celebrating a victory. They had just solved a major robbery case. Four heavily-armed criminals from Anshan had been arrested while trying to steal a small potted plant.

The plant attracting so much criminal interest was the kafir lily. A year earlier a novel called The Kafir Lily Craze had been published in the Wenhui Monthly. It described a small northern town's fascination with the plant, and an attempt to steal one. The author was Zhang Xinxin, a student at the Central Academy of Drama. His inspiration had come from a Changchun-based book editor.

Zhang Xinxin said, "He said to me: "Xinxin, do you know what's wrong with Changchun? In Changchun, we all grow kafir lilies." I said: "So what?" "People here not only grow them, but also commit crimes and murder for them." When he said this I felt a tingle of excitement. I couldn't relax; all I could think about was what he'd said. When the editor got back that afternoon I told him I'd got an idea. He asked what it was. I said the title would be ‘The Kafir Lily Craze'. He laughed out loud. I asked him why he was so happy. He said he'd always wondered what was wrong with Changchun people. I'd found the answer. It was that they were all crazy."

The kafir lily is different from traditional plants found in China. It's a member of the Amaryllidacea family that comes originally from the jungle of South Africa. When Puyi was in Changchun as emperor of the puppet Manchukuo, the Japanese had Kafir lilies sent to his palace. After liberation, the Kafir lily gradually became popular in ordinary households. With its pure, graceful and refined appearance, it became known as the "gentleman of plants".

By the 1980s, the small plant was known by another name; "green gold".

The story begins in the city of Changchun in Jilin province. At the end of the 1950s, with the setting up there of the First Automobile Works, Changchun became a major industrial base in the northeast. From then on, throughout the era of the planned economy, Changchun was one of the biggest cities in China.