Sent to 'tame the wasteland,' they found love, trauma, and the China that never was.
Season 1 • Episode 45
LatestOn a rainy night in the Beidahuang forest area in 1969, the small train brought another group of educated youth from major cities across the country. Yang Bingkui, the stationmaster of Baihualin Railway Station, looked at the young and youthful faces and had a premonition that the arrival of this group of people would bring about earth-shaking changes to Beidahuang.
Production
Brutal authenticity: they filmed in actual former labor camps in Heilongjiang.
Acting
Fu Jing's Zhou Zhao — fragility armored in political performance.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'educated youth' sent-down movement displaced 17 million urban teenagers to rural labor between 1968-1978; this drama aired on CCTV in 2012 as state-sanctioned nostalgia, yet its unflinching depictions sparked debate about whether it criticized or romanticized the trauma.
Director Xinjian Zhang required cast members to live in replica 1969 dormitories for two weeks before filming, with rationed food and banned phones; lead Fu Jing reportedly broke down on day four and used the raw footage in her audition.
CN
