From 1979 to 1989 China was going through tremendous change. The open-door policy induced not only cultural and economic changes, but also great shifts in attitudes. Filmmaker, Jia Zhang-Ke looks into China during the eighties through a propaganda musical troupe in a small village located in a province of Shanxi. In 1979, propaganda musical troupes performed material of political propaganda, but as times changed, it accepted more popular forms, incorporating rock and break dancing. As Jia Zhang-Ke traces their paths that spanned the entire country, he introduces a decade of social evolution as well: electricity in areas that never dreamed of it, the popularization of TV, and most of all the changing values among the younger generation. Likewise, the young troupe members gradually reassess their ideas and goals only to be confronted with the same dreary reality. They dream of a bright future and strive for a new kind of relationship, but instead they are reprimanded by the establishment and meet with social regulations. Strangely though, Jia Zhang-Ke seems to carry affection towards the changed and the unchanged, suggesting that the decade he portrays in this film has been precious to him as well. (Kim Ji-Seok)