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.

Written in 1925 by Zhu Ziqing (1898-1948), the piece recounts the author's departure for Peking University. What lingered most in his memory was the image of his aging father's back as the old man climbed up and down the train station platform to buy him oranges.

"It was amazing to see how real life connected with something I had read in a textbook," Li said.

This moment of inspiration quickly became Laikansuba's first short film, in which Li reimagined the protagonist as a girl, reflecting on her own relationship with her father.

"The core idea, however, remains the same — Chinese fathers tend to be reserved and don't always express their love openly," she explained.

The video struck a chord with young audiences, garnering over 80 million views across Chinese social media platforms.

Encouraged by this success, the team launched an ongoing series that offers fresh interpretations of classic stories from school textbooks.

Primarily shared on Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu (RedNote), and Bilibili, the series has attracted over 2.5 million followers in less than a year, with most viewers aged 18 to 23.

All the young protagonists in these stories are portrayed by 26-year-old Shu Jiahui. Although Shu graduated with a degree in software engineering from Yibin University in Sichuan and has no formal acting training, she developed a passion for acting through internships and personal exploration.

"When I get a script, I research similar characters and imagine how I would react in those situations," Shu explained.

It was this raw, unpolished quality that caught Li's attention. She found that many trained young actors tended to deliver rehearsed and predictable performances, lacking the authenticity she was looking for.

Contemporary lens

One of the key challenges in adapting classic literature is rewriting scripts to make these timeless stories resonate with today's young audience.

Fortunately, the team, all in their 20s, knows exactly how to adjust the themes to address the confusion and challenges of young adulthood.

For example, Li adapted Meng (meaning "Men"), a poem from Shi Jing (The Book of Songs), the earliest existing collection of Chinese poetry. The original poem tells the sorrowful tale of a woman abandoned by her husband. As she reflects on their past love, she struggles with the pain of betrayal, highlighting the oppression women faced in feudal marriages.

In Li's modern retelling, the protagonist goes through a similar experience but in a contemporary setting: after her divorce, she returns home to find a party popper prepared by her mother, celebrating a fresh start.

"I want modern women to know they have the courage to start over," Li said.

Li's approach to scriptwriting often goes beyond textbook narratives, focusing instead on themes that personally resonate with her.

One example is her adaptation of A Madman's Diary (1918) by Chinese literary giant Lu Xun (1881-1936). This classic story is narrated through the diary of a "madman "whose writings expose societal indifference under feudal oppression and the irony of labeling truth-tellers as "mad".

In her video, Li reimagines this tale in the context of modern social media. It features content creators who fabricate fake scenarios to generate conflict and attract views. When a viewer reveals the truth, she is "silenced "for speaking out. This modern twist brings fresh relevance to the classic work.

"I want to make videos that bridge literature with reallife experiences," Li explained. "I hope to help viewers rediscover emotions they may not have fully grasped as students and offer new perspectives shaped by time and personal growth."

mengwenjie@i21st.cn