How Many Times Have We Met, My Love?

[Sunshine-filled Tibetan young man Ge Le + Kind and resilient Han Chinese girl Jiang Yu]

A sweet little love story about two ordinary people. There's little conflict, just a gentle, steady pace that can feel a little uneventful. It follows their everyday life together in a village on the western plateau, then their reunion at work later on. Along the way, it also describes the scenery of the western plateau and local ethnic customs.

As Jiang Yu nears graduation, she applies for the Western Development Program and awaits approval. But her family pressures her to take the civil service exam, which she fails, then tells her to pursue a graduate degree. After graduating, she escapes reality by traveling over mountains and across rivers to volunteer at a guesthouse in the forests of the west, where she meets Ge Le again, someone she had encountered a few times before.

As they spend time together, Jiang Yu grows curious about Ge Le because of what happened the previous year, and before she knows it, she has fallen for his straightforward, pure-hearted nature.

Ge Le, meanwhile, has liked Jiang Yu since last year. He tries every trick to get her attention, showing off like a peacock and making his feelings plain. He goes to great lengths to keep his imagined rival out of the way, yet he gets shy himself.

They ride horses, pick mushrooms, herd cattle, feed sheep, read poetry, climb mountains...

A few months later, Jiang Yu's application to the Western Development Program is approved, and they part ways.

“After we parted, I longed for the day we'd meet again.” Before long, they reunite.

I love not only your passion, but your brokenness too. “I love the living, breathing people shaped by those sorrowful days.”

In the hearts of many, she was never anyone's first choice. But that young man said she was his one and only, “a bright, bright moon who doesn't know she's the moon.”

“I'll scatter lungta atop the snowy mountain to pray for us, asking for your happiness and safety, and a life of peace and worry-free days. I'll pray that we stay by each other's side and grow old together.”