The film follows a half-dozen young members of a theater and music troupe, starting in the post-Mao era. They begin performing pro-Mao propaganda songs and change with the times adopting a pop image to go with their new freedom. It begins with a performance by a troupe of "arts workers" called the Peasant culture Group from Fenyang. After the show, they gather for a self-criticism session in the school bus that takes them from town to town.
It follows in the period after the death of Mao in 1976 and how under its new leader Deng reinvented itself following the Cultural Revolution. The newly privatized group renames itself the All-Star Rock and Breakdance Electronic Band. It performs in the same towns ,but the male members display electric guitars and sport long rock star tresses ,while the women strut around in lively outfits like the solid gold dancers. This film explores the period between 1980 and 1990 ,when China moved from the final shadows of life under Chairman Mao to the Cultural Revolution and Westernized consumer capitalism. Director points out when his country was still in the grip of "Mao Zedong thought," the young people preferred listening to illegal broadcasts on radio and did it despite the risk of being caught by the authorities.
But during Deng's era ,western writings from the likes of Nietzche and Freud became available , and one had many more choices than just reading Mao or Marx. But old friendships become strained and there are new psychological problems to deal with in modern China. The film takes its title from a Chinese song popular throughout the '80s: "The long and empty platform, the wait seems never-ending, the long wagons are carrying my short-lived love."
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