Located 150 kilometers outside of Shanghai, Zhili is the heart of China’s textile industry and attracts youths from rural regions along the Yangzi River. Wang Bing, one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, steps into this world of young laborers in contemporary China through Youth (Spring), a documentary that captures an intimate portrait of youths who work fifteen hours a day in textile workshops. In their late teens, these young laborers work their sewing machines in windowless rooms while listening to pop music, yet their vibrant, youthful energy remains undiminished. Wang Bing spent six years with them, capturing their romance, friendships, temptations, and struggles on film. As indicated by the title, which alludes to a certain phase of life and season, Youth (Spring) is the first in a ten-hour-long series that marks the beginning of a monumental cinematic endeavor, following West of the Tracks (2003) and Dead Souls (2018). (KANG Sowon)