Walking Past the Future

The Yangs have moved from Gansu, one of the poorest provinces in Northwestern China, and settled in Shenzhen in South China more than 20 years ago. Having hoped to find a future for their next generation, the Yangs only reckon that after many hard years of working in Shenzhen as construction and factory workers, the new Shenzhen no longer has a place for them. They return to their home village in Gansu. Yang Yaoting, their Shenzhen-born daughter, who has neither a Shenzhen residency nor a college degree, sees none of the future her parents have envisioned for her in modern Shenzhen. Amidst the harsh reality of daily life, the quiescent, soft-spoken Yaoting, along with her peers, leads a solitary life, and can only find solace in the fantasy worlds of virtual reality and WeChat. Seeing her parents having difficulty in readapting to a rural life back home, Yaoting decides to visit Gansu and bring her beloved parents back to Shenzhen.