The trusty old “Back to the Future” task of Ling ensuring her own future existence is enjoyably complicated by romantic overtures she receives from Leng Te (Chen He), a local tough guy who unsurprisingly reveals a much softer side once he gets to know the bubbly new girl in town. Among these are securing a television for Ying’s factory (a coveted prize, with only one TV per 100 people at the time), and helping her volleyball team win an important match against rivals led by future frenemy Qin (Han Yunyun).Īlso on Ling’s lengthy to-do list is setting up romance between mom and Shen Guanglin (Shen Teng), privileged son of chain-smoking factory boss Shen (Du Yuan). Plenty of laughs follow as Ling attempts to make mom’s life better by changing events she believes were sources of regret for her mother in the future. Without too many questions being asked by anyone, Ling passes herself off as a distant country cousin Ying has never met, and quickly becomes her new best friend.

At this time, Ying is an unmarried factory employee with a heart of gold and a work ethic that embodies what dedicated contribution to collective effort is all about. While tearfully attending her mother’s deathbed, Ling is just as miraculously lifted into the clouds and hurtles back to Earth in 1981, before she was born.īreaking Ling’s fall from the sky is none other than Ying (now played by a radiant Zhang Xiaofei).

No sooner has Ling expressed her deep fear of not becoming successful enough to make her mother proud than Ying is fatally injured in a road accident that miraculously leaves Ling unscathed. Surrounded by relatives obsessed with personal wealth, career opportunities and luxury goods, Ling’s painfully aware that such things were out of reach for her mother, Ying (Liu Jia), when she was young and China’s economic reforms had only just begun.

Slightly awkward and immediately likable, Ling narrates her story as it begins in 2001. Now 38, Jia plays the autobiographical role of daughter Ling with such sincerity and enthusiasm it hardly matters that she’s twice the character’s age.

Expanded from a popular TV comedy sketch Jia performed in 2016, “Hi, Mom” is based on memories of her mother, who passed away when Jia was 19.

Ni Hao, Li Huan Ying instal the new