I once wrote merely about that generation — until realizing their era matters even more. The true protagonist is 'The Times'. This book isn't nostalgia; it's a return to history's pivot point, presenting a true period of time, and filling in the historical memory for today's young people. It is not only to let them understand that generation of people, but more importantly to let them know about that period of history.

If "Snow City", which came out in the 1980s, was a story for the post-70s generation, and "The Rings of Time" in the 1990s was for the post-80s generation, then "The Age of Urban Return" can be said to be a "history of awakening" for the post-90s and even the post-00s generations, a "return to urban life and to the past" for all Chinese people.

—Liang Xiaosheng

"Unlike grievance-laden 'scar literature', this work transcends trauma with hope — aching yet uplifting."
—Da Chuang, Author

"Persevere, and skies clear. Liang's idealism shines through these characters' struggles."
—Song Qiang, Author

History and human nature are inherently very complex and multifaceted. They encompass pain, struggle, ugliness, cowardice, and distortion, but also include human warmth, ideals, loyalty, and dedication. While criticizing and reflecting, we should not deliberately evade the spirit left by this period of history, and we cannot deny that there are aspects of these spirits that are worth affirming. In this regard, Liang Xiaosheng's novels are close to historical truth.
—Liu Yang, Author

★Liang Xiaosheng's definitive "Educated Youth Literature" masterpiece — The spiritual epitome of educated youth returning to urban life.
★More than literature — it's history, and a spiritual manifesto for contemporary youth.
★An Educatued Youth Literature Without Generational Gap: Panoramas of hardship and rebirth during China's transformative era. This novel mirrors the self-reflection, redemption, struggle, and forgiveness of returnees in this era, as well as the reconstruction of value system amid Reform and Opening-Up, bearing extremely important practical and enlightening significance for the survival and development of contemporary young people.
★A philosophically Rich Realist Novel: Vivid characters and gripping conflicts embody the rational force imbued by Liang Xiaosheng, the relentless spirit of Chinese nation, leaving readers profoundly inspired.

We cannot choose our times — only how we respond
In this mortal world, the hardest yet most worthy task
Is simply to live well.

This book is a representative work by Liang Xiaosheng. It tells the stories of joy and sorrow of several educated youth families living in Harbin in the 1980s. It reflects the struggle and pain of a generation after the passion has faded. The novel takes the development and entanglement of characters such as Lin Chaoran, He Ningzhi, Luo Yimin, Yang Yifan, and Zhang Jihong as its main thread. It artistically shows the hardships, confusion, bewilderment, bitterness, and even despair that the educated youth faced after returning to the cities from multiple angles. Despite the hardships, they never bowed to fate or succumbed to life. Through struggle and hard work, they eventually found their place and sense of belonging.

Liang Xiaosheng

He was born in 1949 in Harbin with ancestral roots in Rongcheng, Shandong. He is a renowned contemporary Chinese writer and scholar. Currently, he serves as a senior professor at the School of Humanities of Beijing Language and Culture University, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and a researcher at the Central Research Institute of Culture and History. To date, he has authored over ten million words of literary works, including essays, novels, commentaries, and documentary literature. His representative works include "Tonight There’s a Snowstorm", "The Rings of Time", and "Educated Youth". In 2019, he won the 10th Mao Dun Literature Prize for his novel "A Lifelong Journey".

December 1979, on a snowy night in Harbin, the Flood Control Monument stood towering in the snow, while the frozen Songhua River lay like a white felt.
The trees lining on both sides of the roads were adorned with fresh snow, so huge they resembled silver corals. It was already late in night, and every street was quiet and deserted, with no people or vehicles.
On the window of a clothing store, a notice with red paper and black characters read: To welcome the brand-new year of 1980, we are having a clearance sale at all costs! Long live the new era!
In the area of the Three-Arch Bridge, there was a steep slope on the road. Two figures walked shoulder to shoulder down the slope cautiously. They were Lin Chaoran and his wife, He Ningzhi. He Ningzhi, wearing a military-style overcoat over her cotton-padded jacket with a slightly protruding abdomen, appeared to be pregnant. Despite her pregnancy, she was still carrying a plastic bucket of soybean oil and two roe deer skins rolled into a scroll on her back; Lin Chaoran, on the other hand, was shouldering a full sack of flour and holding a travel bag in his left hand, which also seemed quite heavy.
Both of them were tired, panting heavily as they walked.
He Ningzhi, "I didn't expect that, on the eve of 1980, there would still be so many educated youth on the train, and it's delayed by seven or eight hours."
Lin Chaoran, "There are still tens of thousands of educated youth returning to the cities from the military-style farms, farms, and rural areas in Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin... You must be extra careful. If I fall, it's no big deal, but if you fall, it would be a serious problem..."
No sooner had Lin Chaoran finished speaking than he slipped and fell, with the travel bag and the flour sack falling to the ground and himself sliding quite a distance away.
"Chaoran!" He Ningzhi shouts.
Lin Chaoran slid to a utility pole and shouted back, "Leave me alone! Go down the slope slowly, there's ice under the snow!"
He tried to stand up by holding onto the pole, but the pain in his ankle made him wince and sit back down.
He Ningzhi walked up to him and asked, "Are you okay?"
Lin Chaoran frowned and said, "I twisted my ankle."
He Ningzhi, "Hold still for now."
She put down the plastic bucket with soybean oil, turned around, and dragged the travel bag and the flour sack over. The flour sack had split open at one end, spilling quite a bit of flour. She took out a handkerchief, padded the crack from the inside with it, and scooped the flour from the ground back into the sack...
Lin Chaoran shouted, "Forget it, let it be! It's not much of a loss!"
He Ningzhi also shouted loudly, "If I don't scoop it up, the loss will be great. This is fine flour!"
She dragged the flour sack closer to Lin Chaoran, panting heavily, and added, "Alas, once a woman is pregnant, she moves like she's in her eighties."
She took off her gloves with her teeth and rubbed her hands together.
Lin Chaoran says, "Sit opposite me and rest for a while, I'll rub your hands for you."
He Ningzhi, "No, it's troublesome for me to sit down now, and even more troublesome to get up."
She put her gloves back on.
Lin Chaoran, "Then help me up."
He Ningzhi helped him up.
Lin Chaoran, "It seems we really can't go any further." He leaned helplessly against the utility pole.
He Ningzhi's eyes caught sight of something, "There's a small advertisement posted above your head, and the name signed on it seems to be my younger sister's!"
Lin Chaoran, "I don't have the mind to care about her right now." He sat back down against the utility pole.
He Ningzhi wiped the frost from her eyelashes, took out a flashlight from her schoolbag, and turned it on to take a closer look. The small advertisement was written in elegant regular script: I am a female, twenty-six years old, a returnee from the Heilongjiang Production and Construction Corps, with a good appearance and upright character. I am seeking a man under thirty-five years old, with a matching appearance and a house, to be my husband. A house of ten square meters is sufficient, but larger would be even better... Signed: He Jingzhi.
He Ningzhi exclaimed, "It's definitely my younger sister!"
Lin Chaoran, "Don't get excited, there are many people with the same name!"
He Ningzhi, "It's her! In the letter she wrote to me, she said she was practicing calligraphy. To place a marriage advertisement like this, and with 'larger would be even better', it's driving me crazy!"
Lin Chaoran, holding his big-headed shoes with both hands and moving his sprained foot, asked, "What's 'larger would be even better'?"
He Ningzhi, "Seeking a man under thirty-five years old, with a matching appearance and a house, to be my husband. A house of ten square meters is sufficient, but larger would be even better..."
She tried to tear the small advertisement off, but it was already frozen to the utility pole, and there was no way to tear it off!
Lin Chaoran, "Honey, can you at least check the time first?"
He Ningzhi was taken aback for a moment, looked at her watch, and said in a low voice, "It's almost one o'clock." She was no longer so angry and calmed down.
Lin Chaoran looked up at her and said, "What are we going to do now? I told you not to bring so many things, but you didn't listen to me!"
He Ningzhi, "The New Year is approaching, and then the Spring Festival will follow. It wouldn't make sense to go home empty-handed, would it? Your parents both have chronic back and leg pain. It's only right to bring them each a roe deer skin, isn't it?"
Lin Chaoran said impatiently, "Stop talking so much! What I'm asking is, what are we going to do now?"
He Ningzhi was stunned for a moment, looked at the things on the ground, and with difficulty bent down to rummage through a travel bag, taking out a dagger in its sheath and putting it into her overcoat pocket.
Lin Chaoran, "Why are you putting it in your pocket?"
He Ningzhi, "We have no other choice... You sit here and guard the things while I go home first. I'll call my dad and my two sisters to come and pick you up."
She felt wronged and tears came to her eyes. She wiped her face, turned around, and left.
Lin Chaoran saw this in his eyes, understood that she felt wronged, and anticipated her tears. He said softly, "Honey..."
He Ningzhi stopped.
Lin Chaoran, "Aren't you afraid of losing me?"
He Ningzhi didn't turn around or look back.
"Ouch!"
He Ningzhi immediately turned around, anxiously asking, "What's wrong?"
Lin Chaoran, "Just teasing you! Don't worry, I have the patience to wait here. Walk slowly, and don't slip like I did."
He Ningzhi nodded.
Lin Chaoran:,"Don't be angry. I shouldn't have complained about you just now. I love you. You know how much I love you."
He Ningzhi was delighted, smiled, and also spoke softly, "Don't be annoyed. It's not that big of a deal! My family has a bicycle. I'll have my dad ride it here first!"
She left.
Lin Chaoran watched her figure disappear, took out a cigarette from his pocket, leaned against the utility pole, smoked, and fell into memories...
In the headquarters of the military horse farm of the Corps, Lin Chaoran was drinking and bidding farewell to the instructor of the active-duty soldiers. On the table were potatoes, mixed black fungus, and a large bowl of mushrooms stewed with meat.
Instructor, "This is the roe deer meat sent by the Oroqen hunters. Why don't you eat any? Do you think my stew doesn't taste good?"
Lin Chaoran: "No... Instructor, I'm reluctant to leave the military horse farm, and I'm also reluctant to part with you. It's hard to say when we will meet again after this farewell..."
He spoke with emotion, covered his face with both hands, and shook his head.
Instructor, "I understand. Besides, your brother is buried here. But the military horse farm has been disbanded, the horses have been moved elsewhere, and the educated youth have all returned to the cities. Only the two of us are left. No matter how reluctant we are to leave, we have to go."
Lin Chaoran, "I've been keeping my brother's death a secret from my family..."
He started to cry.