Our Generation: The Fiery Lives of the Post-85s

My name is Lin Yi. I was born in 1985.

To everyone else, I was just another perfectly ordinary post-85s generation kid.

As a child, I rolled iron hoops around, thinking life would slowly get better.

When I grew up, I buried myself in my studies, believing that getting into college would be my ticket to success.

After I started working, I put in endless overtime, convinced that if I could just make it to middle age, life would finally settle down.

Until the day I turned thirty-five,

when a layoff notice hit me in the face and I finally understood:

The stable life I had fought with all my might to protect was worth nothing.

A crushing mortgage, sick parents, a young child, and a wife too afraid to cry.

Overnight, I went from the pillar of the family to its most useless man.

I got cheated while street vending, scammed by a franchise, and saw three business ventures fail, each leaving me back at zero.

Relatives kept their distance, friends looked on coldly, and the whole world told me:

"Accept your fate. You're too old to start over."

But I refused to give in.

We post-85s have been through every kind of hardship. Why should we surrender in middle age and become the very people we hate?

From drowning in debt to making a comeback;

from the depths of despair to turning the tide against all odds.

This isn't a feel-good power fantasy. It's the relentless struggle of a middle-aged man who refuses to die inside.

This isn't a legend. It's the fiery life of our generation.

Dedicated to everyone who:

went to school, worked a job, lost one, refused to give up, and refused to bow their heads: the post-85s.

This time, let's live for ourselves.