Frost_edelweiss

I savored the last episodes after enjoying the sunny weather outside and found the ending very satisfying, once I finally accessed the 5 last episodes. Overall, I enjoyed it from beginning to end.
I will miss this story, which was so well told,
Chen Feiyu and Sun Qian were playing very sweet and engaging characters. Yes there could have been more kisses, but the period background was very prudish, as hinted by the "love bite" from the 1.90 tall mosquito incident, lol. Now looking forward to watch Sun Qian and CFY's separate upcoming dramas, hopefully not too far in the future.

Returning without any scratch from digging up people in shifting rubble and falling debris would also have made no sense...
So, the production decided to cut that "buried alive" scene, probably thinking with good reason that it might be too melodramatic and sort of cliché after the many earthquake scenes already seen in other dramas. Instead, although the story is fictional and not pseudo documentary, production chose to insert one of the two very short excerpts from newsreels from the period, in order to make the timeline and June 1976 background (Tangshan earthquake) in the plot crystal clear.

Happy Birthday to , Xu Kai!

That's mean... Arthur was quite fat , even frankly obese, in adolescence, okay, that's maybe not so well-known. American food can be lethal for figure and health (I know: I used to have a sterling metabolism which allowed me to eat and drink whatever I fancied, until I had to eat the awful hormone filled chicken dishes of the East Coast of the US. That wrecked my system so badly, I too had to embark on a drastic diet to not be scared by my appearance!)

Chen Feiyu lost a tremendous amount of weight through a grueling fast diet (maybe worse than that, perhaps surgery) when he started in c-ent, way back when. No wonder his parents were not overjoyed when he declared that he wanted to work as actor in c-ent!

Since then, he has stayed very weight conscious and certainly can't be called fat. But it looks like the next drama that he will be filming has special slim requirements. I just hope he won't sink into anxiety and conversion troubles like Zhao Lusi experienced.

He too has had to suffer from cyber bullies + from a trash "e-reporter"and a "trophy hunter" fan -- the story is best to be forgotten although after that blatant disrespect of his boundaries, it's probably difficult for him to remain as sunny and nice, polite, as he used to be.

Sorry I don't know that song and did not see anything that seemed to fit the trailer in the music info for the t drama on Baidu

On the other hand, I stumbled upon the more complete OST on Spotify + the individual instrumental melodies composed by D-Jin (Jin Dazhou ) so I added these with translation of the Chinese titles , links to the MVs, and a link to the interview of the composer-producer to add to the information about the singers of the four main songs pinned in Discussions section.

I have added separately the link and visual of the trailer you wish to know the music of, with the question. Perhaps someone will know and answer?

ZLH is supposedly "voiced by Yi Fan" according to credits. 4 among the 7 lead cast actors (not Tian Xiwei) are dubbed by voice actors in this drama. Dubbing is frequent in costume dramas.

Yi Fan was already the voice of Zhang Linghe in 2023 Tiger and Crane and in 2024 The Princess Royal; he is also the voice of Wang Zhiqi in Imperial Coroner (2021 and 2026) and two other dramas; and of Liu Jun in Generation to Generation, among many actors he dubbed since 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrmWl4a8UMQ (ok that song is more for halloween evenings -wondering why they did not release it then with those scrunchy bloody snow scenes 😂)
Btw the OST is nice too, but sometimes I stray for other songs in the intermissions.

😂 Pretty cool butchering (reminding me somewhat of the bloody revenge scene in LLTG) although in my countryside, they hang the pig first to let the blood flow in a pail for sausage making. -- Tbh this drama starts very well.

The bowls of noodles and pork in ep 2 made me hungry 😂

ok I'm in ! 🥳 On WeTV (kissing takes a wee more time, besides which I have too many subscriptions here so that one should do).

waiting too 😂
Time left to brew a cup ?

I have pinned the OSt music up in Discussions section, together with some info about the singers
https://kisskh.at/discussions/754361-love-story-in-the-1970s/148580-love-story-in-the-1970s-music Enjoy !

I'm also going to watch POJ :) after finishing Love Story in the 1970s (same: I don't purchase into express usually. I believe subscription to VIP plans for oQIYI, WeTV, Viki, Youku should be enough splurging on my end and am dissatisfied with some because of the payment options hassle and the shows that get georestricted 🤔)

So, also watching else now, like short and vertical dramas 🤯🥲 or older shows that I missed and could catch up with, like "Psychologist" (Yang Zi and Jing Boran -totally different there from his appearance in "Road Home" 'his 2023 romance drama with Seven Tan Songyun) and "You Are My Hero" which had been stuck in my On-hold list because overlong (okay shows even if not masterpieces 🥲)
+ slowly savoring "How dare You!" which you already watched..."How Are you?" "I'm Fine, and you?" 🤣

Presently also watching ODD 🥳 and About Love 🤫, the more adult drama about a morally grey "relationship tester" played by Wang Ziwen who entangles with a "bags authenticator" played by LYN and a quirky comics artist played by Vengo Gao. There are other characters in complicated states of relationships anxiety around them, including a psychologist who at the episode I reached, looks not very honest. The story is from a manhua and was initially titled Cicada Girls, filmed in 2019, for some reason delayed till 2026. The OST is nice, so I pinned a list of songs and melodies up in the Discussions section of that drama.

... Too much. The weekend should be sunny so I'd better get my fill of natural Vitamin D, and go stretch limbs - even if not going all out to dance in public the "Zhan Ma /War horse" aerobics dance🤣 I am too rusty now, sigh. Just a few moves in front of large screen while singing that "new anthem of the year" with open doors to balcony once furniture in the way is pushed aside perhaps, then). People don't know that sort of fun dances to share in parks and plazas in my present area of residence - far from Beijing : I am missing the vibrant capital.... (I had put a snippet of 战马 short video in my Profile page, with a link to it, as Happy New Year wishes for 2026)
Have a nice and sunny weekend too!

Thank you! Nice music ! ❤️
I am pinning it up in "Recent Discussions" under the title "About Love OST" so it does not get lost in the avalanche of comments

It is a good series. Number one in TV series last week in China, as reported by Marcus. Even Avenue X, who often has only scorn for idols and second generation showbiz people, admitted she liked it. She quibbled about it not being "true to era speak and behavior", more tailored to present day audience, which is rather a compliment since it does achieve to convey what the new generations think about that time, now that many scars healed and reconstruction is successful..

But her insistence on comparing the feelings to the ones she got from remembering talks with her parents who lived through these "troubled times" made me think she clear forgot who Chen Feiyu is : the son of a famous film director who was directly affected by the events of the period, and certainly heard about these times at dinner table at home in the family or with acquaintances, besides having had a proper film education at the Beijing Film Academy which certainly had some mentions about the "scars movement" in Chinese culture and cinema. Without having read all about the period and all the novels and memoirs from the times, CFY probably read his dad's memoirs which were published in Chinese in truncated form, as well as explaining in interview how he read the novel after the script to make the drama character come alive.

The moral view encouraged is : not to butt in when hurdles are not worth the fight, but to embrace the changes and find ways to carve paths really fitting the individual aspirations while not jettisoning the debts to and warmth of a supporting social community. Fei Ting will be valued in his dream job as cook. Ms Mu returns to her younger ideals, giving up title and rigid entitled attitude, and is grateful to the forgiving Fei Ni who actively shelters her from isolation at the lunch table. Good food is better for soul and body than mere following slogans, even though "revolution is not a dinner party".

Without turning the drama into a pseudo documentary, I think the characters are well acted to convey both fidelity to source material and to background period. They are engaging and the drama manages to show the appeased way to look back which the new generations prefer, in a forward looking vision of life to tackle present day struggles that do not really resemble those of the past eras, without being burdened by revenge seeking or rekindling grief.

Thanks for your detailed reply! Oh there is no fault with your English imho, and as you justly point out, Chinese is not always easy to translate, especially when it is poetry or cultural allusions, which often infuse the meaning of Chinese sentences.

You are right about the arrows provided by chart artist which were not always perfectly clear. Some mentions in this chart could benefit from being put in bold type while other, less important ones, might be put in smaller italics type, but since Chinese is very concise, it is difficult to find a better translation than the ones you offered, without a reference to time slot (like : "former", "finally"...) which takes much space in English vs Chinese. Anyway, kudos to you for your effort for this the chart, which is generally easy to read with your translations! Looking forward to the ones you plan to do next (which dramas?)

You mentioned in reply "White moonlight', clarifying the origin of the mention. To me this notion has become particularly familiar to the "new" vertical C-drama audiences, although it may still be puzzling to newcomers to standard C-drama. Like "green teas" or such monikers. The first has indeed become Chinese shorthand to describe the never forgotten crush on some loved one from way back when, who was separated from admirer before finally reappearing - Fei Ni was not aware that she was Fang Muyang's white moonlight (lol) ; the second is the "green eyed jealous monster" like Feng Lin in the drama, the spiteful woman everyone will hate. These character types have become staple tropes in c-dramas, and even in other Chinese conversations, but is takes some time for newcomers to get used to these mentions in drama comments., which really belong to the c-drama subculture universe.

Looking forward to the final episodes which I will watch by Thursday when the ordinary audience not purchasing into "express" plan will be able to enjoy them.

I concede that Ye Feng and Fang Muyang briefly competed for Fei Ni's attention in the cinema sequence and about who would leave with who on bicycles. So: very short lived trial sentimental triangle.

Following this definition, then, there is also the Ye Feng-Ling Yi-Fei Ni involvement during the misled matchmaking, : Ye Feng crushes on pretty Fei Ni unrequited and Ling Yi crushes on Ye Feng unrequited. Meanwhile, Fei Ni was aloof and uninvolved sentimentally with either guy until she chose, on a whim, that matching with Fang Muyang would better serve her unsentimental interests.

Perhaps also briefly Ling Yi- Fang Muyang- Ye Feng. Although Ling Yi only covets Fang Muyang before the events and in the beginning of the drama : she was indebted to him and claimed to be his GF but swiftly let him go when she realized the hero was amnesiac and would be more a liability than useful, and next, she witched to covet Ye Feng for his physique and in order to gain power. No real sentimental feelings involved either, although Ling Yi ends up as Ye Feng's fiancée.

And the exes of Fang Mujing and Qu Hua: one alive triggering Qu Hua's jealousy because despite having dumped Fang Mujing and being loathed and written away by her, the "colleague" still curried up to her when she unexpectedly appeared as a successful member of the university. The other ex was a ghost that shadowed vaguely the early marriage of Fang Mujing and Qu Hua'. (Qu Hua still thought of the ghost while proposing to Fang Mujing who justly felt repelled rather than pushed to fight for his love , besides which she had married for other interests first.)

But these feel more like shifting interests alliances in "business" than real significant sentimental love triangles in my view.
In the drama, love starts after marriage, after long and level headed thinking for Fei Ni, Fang Mujing, Qu Hua. Still, love is sweet later :)

Thanks for subtitling and translating the chart !

My only quibble : the "Unrequited Love" stands out a little bit too prominently and may be misleading when in fact this is a very temporary feeling and the real info should better be "Marriage first, then love". The "Childhood nemesis" mention was based on misunderstandings but is important for first episodes to explain the relatively late blooming of love from Fei Ni who nevertheless agrees to trust Fang Muyang quickly, enough to do almost a shotgun marriage!

I am puzzled by the "old age confidant" mention but we still have not seen the Fang parents (Qingyuan and Mu Shanhe) who should appear in episodes after 23, upcoming as of March 4, 2026, so I suppose the confidences will start then.

Love? Neither guys loved each other : the male suitor enabled by misled matchmaking for family benefit was looking down on the girl who reluctantly envisioned in despair a loveless marriage of convenience, but quickly, in a few scenes , thought up herself of a better choice ;) Fei Ni could not get past the contempt her supposed suitor's mom heaped on her at first meeting. She dumped Ms Xu's son firmly.
So,, for me, no real "love triangle".

Some corrections there, Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao who had been leading the extremist "Gang of Four" was not executed but sentenced to life in prison. More exactly : she first was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 1981 following her trial as a member of the Gang of Four, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1983. She lived until 1991 when she died outside prison from illness, in hospital.

Mao had died in September1976, the "year of upheavals" which started in January with the death of revered premier Zhou Enlai (who had been instrumental in preventing the Cultural Revolution and many other excessive political movements to last too long : the Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution were disbanded in 1968). Millions showed up to mourn Zhou Enlai, especially in Tiananmen Square, where citizens expressed grief through flowers and poems—leading to the 1976 Tiananmen Incident, a pivotal moment in Chinese political history. (No, that was not 1989 but it explains in part the later incident).
Third major upheaval was the Tangshan earthquake in Hebei Province, approximately 149 km (93 mi) southeast of Beijing, close to Bohai seafront. , on July 28, 1976, It is portrayed with a short newsreel from the actual earthquake, in the drama.

There were some more changes between 1976 and 1978 when Deng Xiaoping finally took over leadership. The reforms started even before, with the reinstating of the Gaokao national entrance examination to universities in 1977. (Primary schools had reopened after 3 years closed from 1965 to 1968. universities had reopened in 1970, but entry was restricted to individuals recommended by their work units (danwei), with emphasis on political loyalty, proletarian background, and manual labor experience—not academic performance.)

The 1977 Gaokao was a pivotal moment, allowing millions of students—including those affected by the Cultural Revolution—to compete for university places based on exam results, signaling the end of ideological selection and the beginning of educational restoration.

Even before, "banned books" (mostly classic novels from non socialist states) were slowly being read again, smuggled out from the shelves on which they were languishing but not burned (another action of preservation of domestic and foreign cultural artifacts thanks to Zhou Enlai's mitigating actions). Where Jiang Qing ordered Red Guards to go burn, Zhou Enlai helped save some works and buildings, notably libraries (after all, Mao who had started his career as librarian, and was a keen poet, was not really wanting all culture to disappear, and Song Qingling, the widow of Sun Yatsen who was at the head of the main foreign oriented magazine was also appalled by the excesses, so Zhou managed to override the shrillest extremists of Jiang Qing and her "clique").

The state owned factories and companies likewise saw an overhaul in the ideologically led "cadre" system, portrayed in the drama by Ms Xu's demotion from leader to ordinary employee. The broken teacup is a hint to the shattering of the excesses of " Tian an men" extremism, perhaps also to the soon to break "iron pot of rice" of guaranteed employment in the state-owned companies danwei. The slogan "Serve The People" on the broken cup which Ms Xu tries in vain to repair is a symbol of how the motto was not enough to hold together the ideals she lived by: she was already becoming part of the past that needed reform... (Another currently airing drama, "Our Dazzling Days", portrays that sea-change within the state-owned factory in Tiexi/Tiecheng near Shenyang, in the heart of the north-eastern Dongbei region).

Episode 23 is on the backdrop of 1976-77. The earlier episodes were set in 1974-1975. Time flew fast although it looked like an eons-change.