Hard work to attempt to follow long Asian river (8)
I believe the answer is:
industry
'hard work' is the definition.
(being industrious)
'attempt to follow long asian river' is the wordplay.
'attempt to' becomes 'try' (I've seen this in other clues).
'follow' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'long asian river' becomes 'indus' (I've seen this before).
'try' put after 'indus' is 'INDUSTRY'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for industry that I've seen before include "The manufacture or production of goods" , "Commercial, manufacturing enterprise" , "Branch of trade" , "Steady application - to manufacturing?" , "Commercial enterprise, the making of goods, say" .)