Endless Cicada Song, an Unforgettable Summer

Endless cicada song, an unforgettable summer. Now in her twilight years, Xiaoxi—a child of the Eighties—sits in the courtyard on a summer afternoon, chatting with her young grandson. When he asks her what summer vacation was like for kids back in the Eighties, long-buried memories of those summers come flooding back: counting down the days to the holiday, following the teacher to the orchard to pick apples, helping the family with farm work, and, whenever there was a spare moment, rounding up friends to run wild. Sticking cicadas, catching fish in the river, climbing trees for fruit, sneaking melons, jumping rubber bands, kicking shuttlecocks—and after all that play, heading home to cook for their parents, then staying up late before school started to cram on homework. A bygone time full of everyday warmth and countryside mischief, telling of the tenderness and liveliness that belonged to summers in the Eighties alone.