I started this drama and immediately had to pause to go research more about the cultural revolution to better understand the characters.

Story leaves out much about the times in the cultural revolution - artists and educators were humiliated until death so how was our ML able to draw publicly on a train, write the Tai Chi manual, paint his whole bedroom wall, without someone ratting him out and getting him in trouble? I swear I was clutching my heart in fear in those scenes. I understand why he could draw for the state owned newspapers so no problem there.

I also understand the directors / screenwriters / editors had to edit out much and soften a lot of the story to get it past censorship.

Also, little tidbit of information - Arthur Chen's father was among the "youths who were sent to the countryside" during the cultural revolution. When the gaokao was reinstated after Mao ZeDong's death, he was among the first groups of students to sit the university entrance exams. Now Arthur Chen is playing a role reminiscent of his father's and many other people's lives.

😁

Now my pique about the FL's character. I'm at the point where she's trying to get a television ticket to give to a superior so the superior can give her brother a job, so the brother can get married soon. I'm all for helping your bro, but this is too much. It makes me angry. He's a grown man who should help himself - she should at least tell him and give him the opportunity to try to get a TV ticket for himself.😡

For context, in those days, you couldn't just buy things if you had money. You had to get or buy a ticket for things from your superiors as well as have money. For example, if you had a baby and needed milk, you'd have to buy a milk ticket and trade it at the shop for milk.

My take on all of this is that this type of "communism" is what political "leaders" fear these days. Hmm.