Love Endures, a popular drama aiming to portray the post-1990 generation in a new era, has proved to be hugely popular, garnering over 1.5 billion views on the streaming site Youku, an executive of the site revealed during a symposium held at Peking University on Monday.

Starring actress Yang Zi and actor Fan Chengcheng, the drama begins in 2008, as the country prepares to host the Summer Olympics.

Yang and Fan’s characters, both third-grade students at a middle school, are preparing, along with four other childhood friends who grew up in the same neighborhood in a northern city, for a stage play to commemorate their final year before entering adulthood.

As time swiftly approaches their thirties, the six young people reunite only to confront their respective struggles and stresses, ultimately discovering their true loves after being separated for many years.

Xie Ying, vice-president of Youku, said that the drama’s popularity index passed 8,000 on its debut day, making it the first phenomenal hit on the site this year.

Xie revealed that as an online platform, they normally receive more than 1,000 dramas and typically select around 100, or 10 percent, to stream, adding that what most attracts them is whether the story can resonate widely with young audience.

Zhang Jun, the producer, said that the primary goal behind creating this drama is to encapsulate the era in which the post-1990 generation came of age, spanning from the rapid expansion of the internet to China’s extensive integration with the world.

He added that this generation, largely being the only children in their families, has cultivated distinctive bonds with their neighbors and childhood companions, hence making their collective memories particular to their own generation.

Zhang Dexiang, vice-chairman of the China Literature and Art Critics Association, said the show has accurately reflected the societal environments of the post-1990 generation, demonstrating how they are influenced by the prevailing popular cultures of that time, such as K-pop and computer games, while also yearning for and striving toward their dreams.

Dai Qing, a professor at the Academy of Drama and Film of the Communication University of China, said that despite the domestic market producing many youth-themed dramas, Love Endures has distinguished itself with a nonlinear narrative that intertwines two timelines, focusing on the characters at 17 and 30 years old respectively.

Zhong Chengxiang, a veteran researcher at the China Central Institute for Culture and History, described the drama as a mirror that can assist the post-1990 generation in recognizing their own joys, sorrows, aspirations, and challenges.

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