Sasha (Ling Li) is part of the new youth generation of China, unbeholden to traditions and history, always trying to find themselves in the present moment. An exchange student in Nebraska, Sasha is pregnant after a one-night stand with Yang, a young man she knew briefly in Beijing. He was a nan dan, a male actor who specializes in female roles in the Beijing Opera.

Chinese families across the country are able to send their children to school tuition-free in the nine-year compulsory education period as of Monday. From this fall semester, about 28.21 million urban students in primary schools and in junior high schools joined rural students to benefit from the plan, according to the Ministry of Education. The students still must pay for textbooks and uniforms.