Today, as I walked past the meadows, I smelled a familiar scent of flowers that seemed to tell me winter was coming. Suddenly, many happy moments from my childhood came to mind. I am a nostalgic person and may not be ready to grow up yet. Every time I see things from my childhood or smell familiar scents, I have a feeling of happiness, nostalgia and homesickness.
I thought that every autumn in China, when I smelled the familiar scent of osmanthus flowers, I would think of my grandparents taking me to the park to feed the fish. This memory would make me feel so happy. It also reminded me of a phrase that has recently become popular in China: “Chinese-style dreamcore”.
This is a kind of surreal aesthetic that is especially popular among those who were born in the 2000s.
By showing scenes that resemble childhood memories or dreams, it evokes emotions.
In simple terms, it’s all about nostalgia and melancholy. As in the following video...
We can all feel that life seemed to speed up after the pandemic of 2018. For me, COVID-19 started when I was 18. But then came what should have been the best time of my life – the delayed college entrance exam, my grandmother’s passing, and the school lockdown. In the blink of an eye, I am now a graduate student, about to enter the world of work.
The heavy social atmosphere often makes us remember our happy childhood. I think that every child of my age in China would know about it: 4399 online games, large rolls of chewing gum, the excitement of collecting “Plants versus Zombies” cards, the school shop filled with small toys, starch sausages, yo-yos, the carousel in the youth centre, similar home and school decorations, old TVs, sneaking to watch “Wisdom Tree” after school, eating spicy snacks, and the worn-out playground slide in the park. It feels like we are trapped in our ‘utopia’ to avoid facing the enormous pressure.
Now people are under pressure from all sides.
The Internet has connected society, but it has also increased comparison and anxiety.
When I went to university after a disappointing university entrance exam, I was under a lot of academic pressure. Studying at a communications university brought body-image anxiety, and during extreme diets I felt guilty even eating a piece of meat (although I’m better now, I still fear food). I remember that as a child, eating to fullness was a happy affair! Now I’m afraid to eat freely. My one-year graduate life will soon be over, and I will face the pressure of work, the pressure of money, the pressure of my parents’ aging, marriage and children, and the pressure of being an only child who is expected to do everything by herself. I can’t imagine how overwhelming it will be when it all comes together!
But I think if there really was a time machine in the world, even if it is very expensive, I would work as hard as I can to earn money, just to go back to my childhood, to feed the fish with my grandmother again, or to ride the carousel at the amusement park again…This is what Chinese-style dreamcore is all about, a place that says “you can go back, but no one is there anymore”.
Back to the main topic, I wonder if it’s possible to combine Chinese-style dreamcore with nostalgia marketing.
Nostalgia could be an instinct for everyone, as everyone has fond memories associated with their own senses.
I plan to read some related papers to see if I can expand on this idea.
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