You Say I Say Post-90s

I moved to China in 2018 and have integrated pretty well, I think? But especially the 90s and 00s are a mystery to me, while my Chinese friends & colleagues did live through that period, grew up in it, shaped by it (as I was by the 90s and 00s in the Netherlands).

It’s very hard to relive that. Wikipedia doesn’t feel anything, and likewise, many books cover history but not daily life.

That’s why KFC’s ad from 2011 — about the 90s generation growing up — is so good, “You Say I Say Post-90s” (你说我说90后). I actually learned about it in my Chinese language textbook and then I had to look it up. Not easy to find as the original website doesn’t exist anymore.

KFC basically invited everyone to submit videos with their views on the 90s generation, and the result is a fantastic edit of those entries.

Friend (post-80): “I was never into fast food or anything like that, but I went to KFC more than McDonalds. KFC expensive at the time, like if you could eat there you were rich! We never considered health, maybe ate there once a month? If I got good grades my mom took me there.”

 

 

Latest

Twenty-three years

Twenty-three years

In June we moved back to the Netherlands, six suitcases across 8000 kilometres, and after a brief spell at my parents’ place, we moved into our own home. This second move also involved putting down carpet, curtains, buying appliances and furniture — so that our new garage quickly filled with cardboard boxes and other packaging […]
August 29, 2026
Searching for meadows

Searching for meadows

Our new home in the Netherlands sits in a mundane residential area full of young families like ours. The street name comes from made (‘meadow’), still referring to a field that once lay here and now survives only in the name (just how the name Shanghai refers to a river that no longer exists). And […]
August 5, 2026
Degrees of wealth

Degrees of wealth

In eight years of living in China, taxi drivers or older colleagues loved to ask, “Which is better, the Netherlands or China?”, hoping for a single insightful answer that would explain everything. And now, back as a resident in the Netherlands, people ask the mirrored version: do I miss living in China? Neither question is […]
July 11, 2026
Goodbye to Guanyin

Goodbye to Guanyin

It’s a Saturday morning, and we’re in a taxi on the way to the airport. My clothes cling to my body and already reek of sweat, and that’s even before our 12-hour flight has started. Today I woke up at 5:30 to get up early and throw away the last furniture and items we used […]
June 30, 2026