Abstract：Red Coal is a masterpiece of Liu Qingbang, a famous contemporary colliery writer born in Henan province. Set in a coalmine, the novel depicts a story of a farmer Song Changyu who works as a contingent worker and unscrupulously wants to climb up the social ladder in order to become an urbanite, which demonstrates contingent workers' struggle for recognition induced by their identity anxiety. Within the dualistic social structure ( urban-rural opposition) , the rural youth are subjected to the repulsion of the urbanites, which breeds their resentments against city dwellers. Once becoming successful, the rural youth unscrupulously satisfy their desires. Eventually, they suffer from the revenge and receive severe punishment from nature, thus become drifting strangers. The novel provides a possible way for us to understand the living conditions and psychology of the rural youth who work in cities in the context of transitional China.

Keyword：anxiety;recognition;resentment;desire;Red Coal;