Snap your fingers, he said
Snap your fingers in sync with me
Something in the distance is about to be shattered
And everyone present is none the wiser
All the names in this article are written with family name first.
'The Long Season' displays the kind of TV excellence few has ever achieved in almost a decade. 'Why Try to Change Me Now' sits alarmingly close to that title and it's in no way worse than 'Season', it's just 'Change' looks more like an 8-hour cinematic story than TV shows and does not try to season its elabourate plot with a few jokes and laughs. 'Change' and 'Season' are like 'The Sun Also Rises' and 'Let the Bullets Fly', both are trying to tell the same story but the former failed to cater to the Tik-Tok generation with a barrage of dopamine hits and the latter managed to find a fine balance between storytelling, character progression, nostalgia, and laughter. It will be a feast as well as a ponderous journey into the past for those familiar with Chinese movies & TV shows and words can't even begin to describe its excellence. But humor me as I try my best to pay homage to those years and my memory.
The following content contains heavy spoilers for 'The Long Season'. Please read it at your own discretion.
The neverland#
To truly understand what 'Season' or 'Change' was trying to tell us, we must first take an arduous journey down memory lane.
Since the founding of the PRC on October 1, 1949, China had been, for a while, a true neverland for the workers (proletariats). Everything was state-owned and everyone was working for the nation. The wage was only okay but the benefits would put most from the Fortune 500 chart to shame. Each small city had its single pillar of corporation - mostly factories - and over half of the population was working in it. These corporations had their own schools, hospitals, restaurants, supermarkets, and even housing areas. Workers could enjoy these benefits either for free or at an eye-wateringly low price. You were working for the nation, but also for yourself, because in a way, everything you own came from the state-owned corporation which you worked for and you are the owner of this nation. The corporations were big families and everyone knows everyone. Back then, the brass wasn't exactly richer than a newly graduated worker and people believed in things. Everyone would devote their whole lives to these state-owned corporations in the hope of making the nation just a bit better and the future a little brighter. It was a time of material scarcity and mental prosperity.
The northeast region ('NE' for short) spearheaded the industrial production that brought the whole nation onto a fast track for a few decades. NE was often referred to as 'the firstborn of the republic' with pride and duty and as the largest city in NE, Shenyang was the crown jewel of the whole nation.
The layoff#
But such a utopia was never meant to last. Since the Reform and Opening Up policy, the nation had undergone a series of abrupt changes and shifts, creating millions of opportunities at the cost of hundreds of million of people's livelihoods. The brave and the able quit their jobs in the 80s and start their own businesses. We now call it 'throw themselves into the sea'. There were many that failed but more would 'make it', enjoying fortune at a scale hitherto undreamt of.
That was also the time when they realised the nation/government taking the rein could only take you so far. There comes a time when a planned economy would hinder industrialisation and modernisation. The market must take full control. Private businesses budded and many corporations were released from the custody of the nation. The shift was slow at first but in the middle of the 90s, a series of policies cut everything off in one messy stroke. We now call it the mass layoff.
The state-owned corporations were already struggling into the 90s. They were at the front line to brace for the impact of a free market. There were thousands of other factories - owned by those who threw themselves into the sea - doing the exact same thing but with better efficiency and quality. Signs were everywhere but few were willing to see, until one day, the whole thing was taken down by the very hands that made it.
With a series of policies and regulations, the better part of these corporations were required to transfer their ownership to private entities. And since most of them were struggling, laying off workers was the first hurdle they have to step over to make it work. The nightmare of the whole nation and the purgatory of the NE began.
There was no preparation. The deadline and numbers were hard and arbitrary choices had to be made. People were rendered jobless overnight and some homeless soon after.
There was no negotiation. Corporations were sold to businessmen from all over China dirt cheap. Workers had no chance to fight for their lives and could only wait to see whether their names were on the list.
There was little compensation. The nation did prepare some cushions for this hard landing - a collection of songs and sketches injecting glory into the layoff workers' veins. Some were deeply moved and answered the calling, volunteering themselves into the first batch of unemployed, in exchange for blatant embezzlement of their severance and compensation package.
But life was indifferent to every one. The winter after the mass layoff was colder than ever. Many received barely enough money from the factories they used to be proud to work at to make it through several months and had to forage for scraps of food and coal while hopelessly looking for jobs.
There was no way to sugarcoat it, as it was purgatory for many layoffs, especially in the NE. Desperate workers turn to desperate measures. Crime rate hiked. Violent notions poisoned this once prosperous land. And the kindest of them chose to end their lives in peace, hoping to spare everyone some suffering.
The people#
There are many who survived, of course, each branded with their own scars.
There were people like Wang Xiang, who prided themselves in their professional capabilities and legitimacy ('My father buried the first shovel in the soil at the inception'). They put every faith in the nation and the corporation and dedicate their lives to the betterment of both. Their utopia was soon shattered by the mass layoff. They were lucky enough to survive several decades but were unlucky enough to have to cling to their past to soldier on.
There were people like Gong Biao, who was hopelessly romantic and optimistic until the bitter end. He was a university graduate in the 90s, a true 'asset' by anyone's standard. But fate plays cruel games. Some of these assets were laid off and were unable to get employed ever since. Relying on a single corporation for decades meant having few other 'decent' positions. You either settle down to intern-like positions or try to make it as an entrepreneur. They were able to hide their pains and sufferings in their jokes and laughs but their scars run as deep as anyone.
There were people like Luo Meisu, who used to work at the factory but had to retire early due to chronic ailments. Their love for their families was certain but there was always a snake of guilt lurking beneath, eating away their sanity. With little to no income and piling medical bills, they would try to make it up to the family by taking on odd jobs even when the pay was far from fair. Family was everything and even when everything was devoted, it wasn't enough for them.
There were also people like Song Yukun, the Corporation chief. They were lucky enough to climb to the hilltop and were the first to see the torrent coming. They did not choose to warn anyone but instead, they did everything they could to profit off of it. They sold these corporations a cent on the dollar and snatched millions in the process. Justice, duty, and devotion were at the tip of their tongues all the time.
There were other people, of course, and 'Season' almost included everyone in the show and give them a meaningful arc. In the end, there may be one or two characters that were pure evil, but the majority were only pushed away by the tides of time and reduced to what they are now.
This is getting alarmingly long so I'll stop right here and continue the rest of my opinions and discussions in a second article. Watch it if you can and even if you've never been to China, you may still follow the plot and enjoy quite a bit of it.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0dE9r_P82-UWm8ekdBCf7tpCHw-LyhvW
Cover credit: https://movie.douban.com/photos/photo/2891870650/