Have you ever wondered what happens when a childhood friendship becomes the most important relationship of your life? Our Generation, a Chinese drama that aired in 2025, takes us on an emotional journey that starts with innocent childhood memories and grows into a love story filled with heartbreak, family drama, and the painful reality of growing up. Based on the novel "Cherry Amber" by Yun Zhu, this cdrama starring 'Zhao Jin Mai' and 'Zhang Ling He' will make you laugh, cry, and maybe throw something at your screen when they make terrible decisions.
The Story
The story begins in a small mountain town called Qun Shan, where a 9 year old Lin Qi Le (also called Cherry) lives happily with her loving parents and tight-knit community. Everyone in this town looks out for each other, and even though they don't have much money, they have something more valuable - genuine love and friendship.
Everything changes when Jiang Qiao Xi, a new student from the big city, transfers to their school for what's supposed to be just one winter break. Qiao Xi is completely different from everyone else in the town. He's quiet, sad, and comes from a wealthy family, but you can tell right away that something is very wrong in his life. While the other kids might be scared of this gloomy new boy, Cherry isn't afraid at all. She treats him with kindness and warmth, just like she treats everyone else.
The reason Qiao Xi is so sad becomes clear when we learn about his family. His parents, especially his mother, are still grieving the death of their older son, Jiang Meng Chu, who died years earlier. Instead of treating Qiao Xi like his own person, they expect him to replace his dead brother and live the life that Meng Chu never got to finish. His mother is incredibly controlling and sees Qiao Xi not as her son, but as a second chance to fulfill all her dreams through another child. His father, while not as harsh, but is too weak to stand up to his wife and protect his son.
During his time in Qun Shan, Qiao Xi experiences something he's never had before - real friendship and unconditional love. Cherry's family welcomes him like their own son, and for the first time in his life, he gets to be a normal kid. The group of friends have wonderful adventures together, and Cherry becomes Qiao Xi's beacon of light in his dark world. She even looks up the meaning of his name, tries to cheer him up with her silly ideas, and introduces him to her pet rabbit. Most importantly, she sees him for who he really is, not who his parents want him to be.
But this happiness doesn't last long. When the winter break ends, Qiao Xi's mother comes to take him back to the city. She's furious when she sees how happy and carefree he's become, because she wants him to be serious and focused only on studying and achieving the things his dead brother never could. Despite Qiao Xi's desperate attempts to return to Qun Shan (he even tries to take a bus back but gets caught), his mother forbids him from ever contacting his friends again.
The cdrama then jumps forward several years. Cherry, now a teenager, has been left behind in Qun Shan while all her other friends have moved away for better opportunities. She's spent years writing letters to Qiao Xi that she never sends, holding onto the hope that someday they'll be reunited. When she finally gets the chance to attend high school in the city, she's excited because she thinks she'll finally see him again.
But their reunion doesn't go as planned. When Cherry finds Qiao Xi at his new school, he pretends not to know her in front of everyone. This heartbreaking moment shows how much his mother's control has affected him - he's learned to hide his true feelings to protect himself and others from his mother's wrath. Cherry is devastated but doesn't give up on him.
Eventually, Qiao Xi apologizes and explains why he had to act that way. They slowly rebuild their friendship, along with their other friends from Qun Shan who have also come to the city for school. But Qiao Xi's mother remains a constant threat. She's even more controlling now, monitoring every aspect of his life, choosing his clothes, his schedule, and trying to control who he can be friends with. She particularly hates Cherry because she represents the happiness and freedom that threatens her control over her son.
The mother's abuse goes beyond just being strict. She's emotionally manipulative, tears up letters that Qiao Xi tries to write to his friends, and even threatens to have Cherry's father transferred to a different city if Qiao Xi doesn't stay away from her. The poor boy is trapped between wanting to protect the people he loves and trying to survive his mother's psychological torture.
As they grow older, Cherry's feelings for Qiao Xi develop from childhood friendship into romantic love, though she doesn't fully understand these feelings at first. Qiao Xi loves her too, but he's terrified that getting too close to her will result in his mother destroying her life and her family's happiness.
The story becomes even more dramatic during their final year of high school. There's a big confrontation where Qiao Xi finally stands up to his mother and tells her that he won't let her control his life anymore. This leads to a car accident when his mother, in her rage, crashes her car. But even after this, she doesn't change her ways.
The most heartbreaking part comes in episode 15. Qiao Xi, feeling trapped and hopeless about his situation, decides that the only way to protect Cherry is to disappear from her life completely. But before he leaves, he comes back to see her one last time. Cherry, overjoyed to see him, confesses her love and they share their first kiss. Qiao Xi tells her he loves her too and makes promises about their future together – that he'll attend university near her so they can see each other every day.
But these promises are all lies. Even as he's saying these things, Qiao Xi knows he's planning to leave and never come back. After walking Cherry home and saying he'll join her family for dinner, he makes an excuse about forgetting his suitcase and leaves forever. He even steals her childhood necklace as a memento, though Cherry doesn't realize it at the time.
This betrayal devastates Cherry completely. She waits for him, calls him, sends messages, but gets no response. She doesn't understand why someone who just told her that he loved her would disappear without explanation.
The cdrama then jumps forward, Cherry is in her university years, she struggles to move on from Qiao Xi while trying to build a new life. She makes new friends, focuses on her studies, but she's clearly still carrying the pain of his abandonment. Meanwhile, we occasionally see glimpses of Qiao Xi in Hong Kong, where he's gone to escape his family and prepare for studying abroad. He's miserable and clearly regrets hurting Cherry, but he believes it was the only way to protect her from his toxic family situation.
In the final episodes, Cherry learns where Qiao Xi is and flies to Hong Kong to find him. The cdrama shows them finally reuniting as adults, and though we don't see exactly how they work through all their issues, the ending suggests that they do end up together and eventually get married. A happy ending finally...
Differences from the Novel
The biggest difference between the cdrama and Yun Zhu's novel is how much the childhood portion was shortened. In the book, Qiao Xi spends almost three years in Qun Shan, not just one semester. This makes Cherry's obsession with him much more understandable – they had years to build a deep friendship, not just a few months.
The novel also focuses much more on the small-town community life and the relationships between all the families, not just the romance between the main characters. Many people who read the book felt disappointed that the cdrama cut out these elements, which were some of the most touching parts of the original story.
In the book, the story is also longer and more detailed about the characters' motivations. The cdrama feels rushed in comparison, jumping to important moments without giving them enough time to develop naturally.
The cdrama also originally had 40 episodes planned, but it was cut down to just 24 episodes. This meant that many storylines and character development had to be compressed or removed entirely.
My Review
Watching Our Generation was like riding an emotional roller coaster while someone kept changing the tracks halfway through. The first episode is absolutely beautiful – the child actors are incredible, and watching these kids form genuine friendships in their small mountain town made me feel nostalgic for a childhood I never even had. The way they captured the innocence and warmth of that community was really special.
Zhao Jin Mai, who plays Cherry, does a fantastic job showing how someone can be optimistic and strong while also being naïve about how cruel the world can be. Her character is frustrating sometimes because she makes decisions that seem too trusting, but that's exactly what makes her realistic as a teenager who grew up surrounded by love and kindness.
Zhang Ling He as Qiao Xi is heartbreaking to watch. Even though he doesn't get nearly enough screen time for a male lead (which is one of my biggest complaints about the cdrama), every scene he's in shows the pain of someone trapped in an impossible situation. You can see in his eyes how much he wants to be free and happy, but also how terrified he is of what his mother might do.
The mother character is one of the most infuriating villains I've ever seen in a cdrama. She's not evil in an obvious way – she genuinely believes she's doing what's best for her son. But her need to control every aspect of his life, combined with her inability to see him as his own person rather than a replacement for her dead child, makes her incredibly toxic. The actress does such a good job that I wanted to reach through the screen and shake some sense into her.
The cinematography is gorgeous throughout the entire cdrama. The way they use lighting to show Cherry always surrounded by bright, warm colors while Qiao Xi is often in shadows, perfectly represents their different worlds. The soundtrack is also beautiful and really enhances the emotional moments.
However, the cdrama has some significant problems. The pacing feels rushed, especially after the childhood portion. Important plot points happen too quickly without enough setup, and sometimes characters make decisions that don't make complete sense because we haven't seen enough of their thought process.
The biggest issue is how much the story focuses on Cherry while barely giving us insight into Qiao Xi's inner world. For episodes at a time, he completely disappears from the story, which is strange since he's supposed to be the male lead. When he makes his big decision to leave Cherry, we understand why logically, but emotionally it feels like it comes out of nowhere because we haven't seen enough of his struggle.
The romance between Cherry and Qiao Xi is sweet but also frustrating. Their chemistry is undeniable, but the constant cycle of them getting close and then being separated gets exhausting. By the time they're finally reunited at the end, I almost didn't care anymore because I was so tired of watching Cherry beg for someone who kept abandoning her.
The friend group dynamics are lovely when they get screen time, but unfortunately most of the supporting characters feel underdeveloped. You can tell they all have interesting stories, but the cdrama doesn't spend enough time exploring them.
Should You Watch It?
Our Generation is worth watching if you enjoy coming-of-age stories and don't mind having your heart broken multiple times. The childhood portions alone are beautiful enough to make the whole cdrama worthwhile. If you're someone who gets frustrated by miscommunication and characters making poor choices, you might want to skip this one, or at least be prepared to yell at your screen a lot.
The cdrama works best if you think of it as Cherry's story rather than a balanced romance. It's about a girl learning that the world isn't as kind as her small hometown, and that sometimes loving someone means watching them make choices that hurt you.
Just be prepared for the fact that the male lead disappears for large chunks of the story, and the ending feels a bit rushed. If you can accept those flaws, you'll find a cdrama with beautiful cinematography, excellent child actors, and some genuinely touching moments about friendship, family, and first love. Our Generation will put you through the emotional rollercoaster, but for many people, the journey is worth it.