Giddens Ko (pseudonym Jiubadao), the writer of You Are the Apple of My Eye, describes youth like being caught in a downpour ― “It makes you ill, but people still long to experience it again.”
《那些年,我们一起追过的女孩》的作者柯景腾(笔名：九把刀)将青春比作一场淋雨——“即使感冒了，还期盼回头再淋一次。”
With the box office success of So Young, directed by Zhao Wei, people are once again turning their nostalgic eyes to youth ― an era of passion and pain, of hope and heartbreak. The reason why youth is such a soft spot for many people is that its intangible nature cannot be truly grasped until it is lost.
随着赵薇的导演处女作《致青春》票房告捷，人们再次怀念起青春——那个载满激情与痛苦，希望与心碎交织的年代。人们之所以对青春情有独钟，是因为它难以捉摸，直到逝去之后才看清它的真面目。
Intangible quality
捉摸不透的青春
Zhang Yiwu, professor of Chinese literature at Peking University, distinguishes youth from adolescence. Youth is more of a mental concept, according to Zhang. It is a phase, usually from the age of 12 to 30, when teenagers and young people prepare themselves for society.
北京大学中文系教授张颐武将青春和青春期区分开来。张颐武认为，青春更多的是一个精神层面上的概念。青春通常是12岁到30岁之间这一阶段，此时青少年正在为准备步入社会。
“It is the period between education and employment, between dependence and independence,” says Zhang.
张颐武说：“这是一个从学业到就业，从依赖到独立的过渡时期。”
But Jiang Chunling (pseudonym Xinyiwu), the writer of So Young, looks at youth from a different angle: “It’s a time when one can afford to do the wrong things ― there is still time for everything.”
而《致青春》的原著作者蒋春玲（笔名：辛夷坞）则从另外一个角度来看待青春：“这是一个让人敢犯错的时期——还有的是时间来做任何事情。”
Jiang says youth shares many similarities with home. When you leave home, you start missing it.
在蒋春玲看来，青春与家有许多相似之处。当你离开家之后，便开始想念它了。
“I think youth is meaningless for young people. Only when you look back does it acquire a special meaning,” she says.
她说：“对于青年人而言，青春是苍白而空虚的。只有当你回望青春时，才会知晓它的特殊意义。”
Generational traits
时代的特征
Why is youth such an alluring topic across different generations? Zhang Yiwu links it to people’s nostalgia and China’s transforming economy and society in the 1990s. The innocence 30- to 40-year-olds inherited from the planned economy was shattered by the market economy.
为何对于不同年代的人，青春总是一个如此吸引人的话题？张颐武将人们的怀旧情结与上世纪90年代中国经济社会的转型联系起来。三四十岁的人从计划经济传承下来的那份纯真，却被市场经济摧毁。
“In the rapid change, their sentiments faded away,” Zhang says.
张颐武说：“在翻天覆地的变化中，他们的多愁善感逐渐消失。”
For Zhang Yueran, 31, who is regarded as one of the country’s most promising young novelists, “chivalrousness, or heroism in youth” was the hallmark of people born in the 1970s, but it was brushed away by the materialism prevalent in today’s world.
31岁的张悦然被认为是国内最有潜力的青年作家之一，她认为“青春时期的仗义，或者是英雄主义”是上世纪70年代生人的共同特征，但在如今物欲横流的社会中，这种特征早已消失不见。
Nostalgia for the post-1980s and post–1990s generation, according to Zhang Yiwu, comes from their frustration and anxiety. Born into the most affluent society in 100 years, this generation of single children is not as tough as their predecessors.
张颐武教授表示，80后和90后的怀旧情结来源于他们的挫败感与焦虑。出生于本世纪小康社会的独生子女们并不如他们的上一辈人那样坚韧。
“They have very high expectations toward life and their disappointment and frustration with reality is huge,” says Zhang. “So they turn to the past for comfort, even though they are still young.”
“他们对生活期望很高，而现实令他们无比地失望和沮丧，”张颐武表示。“所以他们在过去中寻求安慰，虽然他们依然年轻。”
Universal appeal
影响力广泛
Although the nature of nostalgia differs from generation to generation, Jiang says there are universal elements that trigger feelings of nostalgia.
蒋春玲认为，尽管每代人的怀旧本质有所不同，但一些共通的元素总能引发人们的怀旧情结。
“Everyone experiences youth and every generation considers their youth to have been special. But actually, most people’s memory of youth is the same ― it’s a journey from innocence to maturity, from impulsiveness to composure. And this journey is often marked by pain ― the emotion that leaves the deepest imprint,” says Jiang.
蒋春玲说：“每个人都从青春时期走过，每一代人都认为自己的青春独一无二。而事实上，大部分人的青春记忆是相同的——这是一次从天真到成熟，从冲动到理性的旅程。而这段旅程往往留下刻骨铭心的情感烙印。”
Zhang Yiwu agrees: “We chose to become what we are today. One chooses one thing over another and people always think ‘there could have been a better way’. So they look back, sigh and smile.”
张颐武教授对此表示赞同，他说：“我们的选择成就了现在的我们。一个人选此非彼，人们总是认为‘总会有更好的道路’。所以他们回首过去，微笑着叹息。”
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