Thirty-something blues

The "post-80s," or those Chinese born during the 1980s, have been on top of those social topics for years for their distinct personalities or behaviors brought by the one-child policy (introduced since the late 1970s) and other social changes since that time. Now, even if the majority of this group are starting to nurture their own families and bidding farewell to their youth as the "post-90s" enter into public sight, they still dominate media exposures with their new problems.

Hot on television screens lately are those serial operas including My Dear, The Independent Year and Duan Nai (the process of being weaned), which all reflect the problems this group is currently encountering, like how to balance their family and career, child-rearing, financial burdens and how to get along with their in-laws.

And coupled with the previous popular serial Raising a Toddler is Anything but Easy, which hit TV screens early this year, it seems that topics revolving around the "post-80s" generation are not lessening, but intensifying.

Back in their parents' time, the problems the group is experiencing today were not a big deal. But now to them who were used to being taken care of or even spoiled when they were brought up, the problems appear to be bearing down menacingly.

It starts with the wedding

In The Independent Year, the story starts with the wedding of the "post-80s" couple Cao Kechen and Cong Xiaoming who both worked and settled in Shanghai. Cao is from a poor village in Shandong Province and Cong comes from a wealthy family in Chongqing.

From the wedding on, the young couple's life officially ushers in an era of conflicts brought by those different life customs and ideas.

In reality, with many "post-80s" from small towns spending their college time in big cities and then choosing to stay there after graduation, the couple combination in the TV serial is actually a typical reflection of those in real life.

"Some of the stories in this play are inspired by my personal experiences in family life, as well as those experiences in the lives of my friends," said Biyu Piaoxiang, the screenwriter of The Independent Year, "They are all problems young couples face in their marriage."

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