Framing urban memories

Spiritual refuge

Dou Donghui, an associate professor at the School of Sociology and Psychology at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, says the renewed affection for millennium-era architecture reflects a shared yearning among young people for certainty, warmth, and hope, and more importantly, "a spiritual haven from anxiety, a way to connect with others, and distance themselves from mainstream aesthetics".

These buildings evoke what many remember as a golden age. As iconic products of China's rapid urbanization, these buildings are backdrops of young people's growth and micro-carriers of the broader story of "national prosperity and improved family life". Today, they function as cultural symbols of optimism and a predictable future, he says.