In 1977, China resumed national college entrance exams after they had been suspended for more than a decade. Despite the chilly winter weather, over 5.7 million people eager to resume their studies made their way to exam halls in December that year.

This historic moment, which marked the country's return to educational normalcy after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), is the backdrop to the opening scene of Romance in the Alley, a popular TV series that topped the ratings for dramas broadcast on provincial channels in 2024.

Consisting of 40 episodes, the series earned itself a score of 8.2 out of 10 on review platform Douban and its heartfelt content sparked over 3,500 trending discussions on major social media platforms like Sina Weibo, earning a remarkable 20.8 percent market share of the shows released during the same period in November.

Adapted from the novel by Da Mi, Romance in the Alley explores the lives of two neighboring families, and their contrasting personalities and parenting styles.

Yan Ni and Guo Xiaodong play textile mill worker Huang Ling and her husband Zhuang Chaoying, a high school teacher. They have high expectations for their children, but also experience tension in their relationship. By way of contrast, Huang's colleague Song Ling and her engineer husband, Lin Wufeng, played respectively by Jiang Xin and Li Guangjie, lead a more harmonious life, and grant their son greater freedom.

As time passes, the children of both families enter university and begin their careers. Their experiences of sorrow, joy, as well as the challenges they confront are interwoven with the tapestry of the era, including episodes dealing with the resumption of the entrance exam system, and the dynamism unleashed by reform and opening-up.

During a recent seminar in Beijing, Yan reminisced about filming in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. She said that most of the props in the courtyard set shared by the two families were real. The orange tree was actually fruiting, and the faucets worked, allowing water to flow. The cozy, inviting decoration was so appealing that Guo even expressed a desire to spend nights there instead of returning to the hotel where the cast and crew were being put up.

Guan Xiaotong, a Beijing native who plays the daughter of Huang and Zhuang, said she thoroughly researched the lifestyle of southern China to convincingly play her role, as a young woman transitioning from being 16 to being an adult.

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