『Era of Educated Youths (Zhiqing)』
Three Outstanding Educated Youths Sent Down to the Countryside
In the late autumn of 1968, the Huayang Republic fully implemented the "Root-Taking Plan," and the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) was suspended. (Completely fictional; see Creator's Diary) Gu Beichen, son of a military region staff officer; Xie Yunqi, son of a newspaper deputy editor-in-chief; and Lu Yuanming, son of a state-owned factory director—three young men from elite families within the system—boarded the same southbound train carrying their families' expectations and helplessness, assigned to the 7th Production Team of the Central North Reclamation Area. Carrying their respective pride and confusion, they fell from the city into the countryside, their fates intertwining from then on. It was an era where one could not choose where to go, but they could choose how to live.
The Down-to-the-Countryside Journey of Educated Youths