Reviving classic stories for a new generation

"The stories in our childhood textbooks are the lives we live as adults." This realization inspired Li Yuan to create the video account Laikansuba (meaning "Read Along"), where she and her team share a series of short films that reinterpret classic literary works from Chinese textbooks.

Li, 26, a digital media graduate from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, is the team's director. The idea first came to her during a family trip last year to send her younger brother off to college. At the university, she noticed many parents from out of town doing the same — watching their children take a big step into adulthood.

This scene reminded Li of Beiying (The View of Father's Back), an essay from her middle school Chinese textbook.