Endless Cicada Song, Unforgettable Summer

As the cicadas sing without end, an unforgettable summer unfolds. Xiaoxi, a woman born in the 1980s now in her later years, sits in her courtyard on a summer afternoon chatting with her young grandson, who asks her what summer vacations were like for kids growing up in the '80s. Dusty summer memories awaken: eagerly counting down to vacation, following the teacher to pick apples in the orchard, helping with farm work in the fields, and in spare time running wild with friends. Sticking cicadas with poles, catching fish in the river, climbing trees for fruit, sneaking melons, jumping rubber bands, kicking shuttlecocks—and after all that play, still heading home to cook for their parents. As the new school term approached, they'd stay up late cramming on homework. A bygone time full of everyday warmth and wild country fun, telling of the gentleness and liveliness that belonged uniquely to summers in the 1980s.