Who Took My Happiness?

The changing fortunes of three generations bear witness to a miracle of reform over the course of forty years, and to an era's ode to the journey from countryside to city. They head to the city to find work, start businesses, fall in love, and get married. In the bustling metropolis of Shenzhen, they use their youth to compose an ode to the generation born in the 1980s.

Their parents were born in the 1950s and 1960s: hardworking, simple, kind farmers. They used their own lives as stepping stones, hoping their children could stand on their shoulders, leave the countryside behind, and become city people. They gave everything they had, becoming candles that burned down to nothing. In the end, their beauty faded and their strength waned, and they had no choice but to return to the land where they were born and raised. They placed the key to changing their children's destinies in their hands. A generation's effort and sacrifice became the foundation on which their children could make their way in the city, giving them a boost as they climbed higher.

In love, they were sincere and passionate, throwing themselves into it like moths to a flame. At work, they were steady and diligent, always striving to improve. In life, they were responsible, dependable, and capable, pushing the gears of their own destinies forward in the way unique to young people. In society, they studied hard, thought carefully, and took an active part, using perseverance, restraint, and hard work to keep pace with the times and pursue their own happiness.