SandGirl_Nicky

Agreed!

I know, but it basically renders all of the previous development useless

What you believe to not be true doesn’t make the information I received from somebody who lived in China not true either lol.

My friend lived in China for over six months building electric infrastructure for some rural areas. She travelled a lot to big cities as well. You assumed I got my information from media, and it is not so.

Agreed. The plot is all over the place because of the rubbish scene editing. I don’t think they understand the idea of well developed narrative threads…

I wouldn’t say the scenes made me uncomfortable, just reminded me of days of true hardship and made me feel a lot of pity for everybody living in those times under the regime. I pretty much skipped nothing - the drama is really well done.

It was my autocorrect, I hadn’t noticed it. I’d say rural China has huge issues, despite the raw resources it has. Anyway, I wouldn’t compare the countries, as I mentioned previously.

Nobody should get heat for speaking facts.

I’d actually go as far as saying that few nowadays truly know freedom, communist countries are just more obvious than others. It’s pretty sad tbh.

I can’t agree with that, given the persecution of those who spoke against it in real life

2 episodes in and I’m super confused… the plot is very messy so far. Who approved of such sloppy editing of scenes?

Indeed, it was horrible. Thankfully it’s behind us now.

Thanks for the recs!

Pests aren’t that easy to get rid of. 😅

Thank you! I’ll give them a go.

Speaking of child trafficking, it was rampant in USSR as well. My mum was absolutely terrified that I’d be switched at birth or stolen, which happened in tens of thousands of cases across USSR (in Georgia, they even had a huge scandal about it up to 2005). Usually after giving birth, the babies were taken to a “communal” room for babies and the switches/stealing were likely to happen there. My mum studied my whole body before they took me away and she made sure to check once she got me back. I can’t imagine how stressful that was, so close to giving birth as well.

Well, USSR has collapsed so you can’t really compare it to the PRC of today. I guess Belarus or Russia might be used instead, but I don’t live in either country. I know about their internal situation, but I still don’t think I could give a 100% truthful account. But I’d say Russians have way less tech surveillance than the Chinese do, and they certainly don’t have a social credit score dictating what they can and can’t do.

I generally tend to avoid dramas set pre-90s because I can’t stomach communist propaganda, but I really liked the leads’ chemistry so gave it a go nonetheless. If you have any recommendations, I’d be grateful if you share them 😊

Oh Feng Lin is definitely realistic. People like her were everywhere and you simply couldn't trust others, not without some serious “screening”. You were in a constant state of fear that not only you’d get snitched on for things you’ve done or said, but also for those you haven’t.

That’s communism for you lol

I feel like I’m in a parallel reality. A drama that criticises the ridiculousness of communism has actually been allowed by the censorship boards? I’m honestly shocked. The criticism is pretty mild, but at the same time significant as it indicates some of the ways the individual was sacrificed on the pedestal of collectivism, and the utter ridiculous reasons people would get deported/re-educated for.

IMO, I’m certain the life in the 70s’ China was much harder than what’s depicted, it certainly was in USSR for us. But I’m in awe that this drama received permission to air at all.

The criticism is seen in instances such as:
- the FL getting overlooked due to the personal bias of a person in place of power, who usually require kissing up to;
- the FL stating that had there been an exam she would’ve got in as that’s a fair system not bs who can kiss-up better to the party;
- the ML’s parents getting deported to nicely called re-education (aka concentration) camps and having all of their assets seized, which actually shows that they owed nothing to begin with (yay for communism collective sharing). That one actually happened a lot in USSR, including to my family’s neighbours;
- needing coupons for basic stuff and the coupons actually had a black market;
- be able to get jobs through corrupt practices and favours (even Post USSR collapse, we can’t root this out from my native country);
- the son of Mrs Xu pretty much threatened her when he criticised that she didn’t have the working people in her eye and was looking down on them. A huge communist campaign was having kids turn and even snitch against their own parents to the party. Many kids used it as blackmail. It was meant to destroy the family unit and its inherent loyalty;
- the above point is also proven by the ML’s sister needing to separate and condemn her family just to get a spot at the university;
- malicious gossiping could get your privacy utterly violated without any repercussions for the superior who does it. Some to save face would actually create false evidence. One of my neighbours got killed by the KGB for exactly that reason.

There are many other instances but these I remembered best. It honestly felt like going back in time for me, and not in a good way, though I really enjoy the drama otherwise.

The ending… sigh

Ikr