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.