My Childhood, My City

In 1988, deep in a Beijing alley, two children met during the season of falling locust flowers. Lin Xiaodong, the son of an educated youth who returned to his hometown, is calm and humorous; Su Yutong, whose parents died young and is dependent on his grandmother, is smart and tenacious. They grew up together in an alley and witnessed the changes of the times. At the turn of the millennium, Xiao Dongnan went to Hunan to study, while Yu Tong stayed in Beijing to study, beginning four years of longing for each other. The ecstasy of successfully bidding for the Olympic Games and the confusion of graduation decisions, they grew up in separation and became firm in longing. The fates of two couples and four close friends have been intertwined since then. They have witnessed and participated in the most dramatic changes in Beijing over the past two decades: from hutong demolition to organic renewal, from the application of the central axis as a World Heritage Site to cultural digitization. They guard the memory of the city in their respective fields - Xiaodong uses architecture to extend the historical warmth, Yutong uses words to preserve fireworks stories, Chen Hao uses innovative space narrative design, and Yang Xiaoyu uses technology to connect memory fragments. More than 30 years have passed, and the old locust tree has been transplanted from the entrance of the alley to the Memory Park. The children have grown up in the city protected by their parents. What has changed is the city skyline, but what remains unchanged is the human touch deep in the hutongs; what has changed is the face of life, but what remains unchanged is the commitment to keep and the original intention to inherit. This is a story about protection and growth. Protect the memory of a city, protect the purity of a relationship, and protect the immortal ideals in ordinary life. In the great changes of the times, four ordinary people used their respective professions and passions to weave a picture of the times full of fireworks, human touch and the spirit of Beijing.