A Lifelong Journey

A Lifelong Journey follows the Zhou family across five decades as China moves through major reforms. Set in a northern provincial city at the end of the 1970s, it shows how national campaigns touch private lives. Father Zhou Zhigang has returned from the Third Front Movement in Xi Nan. Eldest son Zhou Bingyi joins the first group of "educated" youths sent to work in rural areas, while daughter Zhou Rong leaves with her poet husband for Guizhou. Youngest son Zhou Bingkun stays at home with their mother. Scenes move from city apartments to rural work sites, showing how employment, marriage and migration reshape daily priorities over time, and how ordinary decisions gradually alter family ties without revealing key plot twists.

Premiering in 2022, A Lifelong Journey was created by Liang Xiaosheng, Li Lu and Wang Hailing. The ensemble cast includes Lei Jiayin, Xin Baiqing, Song Jia, Yin Tao and Ding Yongdai, and the production leans on period detail to evoke the shifting eras the story covers.

There are no widely available records of major international awards for the series. It attracted attention from Chinese viewers and critics, and it was discussed during domestic TV award cycles, but specific nomination and prize details aren't consistently reported in sources I can verify, so I won't assert particular wins.

The series prompted renewed public discussion about the educated youth movement and the consequences of late 20th century policies on everyday families. Clips and character scenes have circulated on social platforms, and viewers often cite its portrayal of hometown departure, return and intergenerational memory. It also pushed some younger viewers to ask elders about their own pasts and family histories.

Critics and audiences praised the acting, with Lei Jiayin and Song Jia singled out, and the show keeps a lived in, observational tone. It holds an 8.8/10 user rating from 12 votes. Thematic threads include family obligation, generational change, migration and the small adaptations people make over decades as broader social systems evolve.