Family members and friends see off educated youths at a railway station.[Photo provided to China Daily]

More than 30 years later, the lives of these zhiqing have become the collective memory of a generation.

Many literary works, TV series and films have been centered on the zhiqing's years in Beidahuang. But Zhu Weiyi, the author of this latest book, is the first writer who tells the stories of the regiment as an outsider.

Zhu, born in 1952, was a zhiqing. In 1968, Zhu, stopped his studies in middle school and volunteered to go to Yuci county, Shanxi province, to work in the countryside.

In 1975, he was recommended for college by the local government and he went to Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, in 1978 where he spent two years.

In 1980, he returned to Beijing to continue his studies for a master's degree, ending his years as a zhiqing.

He says that for the last 20 years he has been working on his dream of becoming a writer.

He adds that he knew long ago that he would one day write stories of the zhiqing.

He says that after publishing a book about German soldiers in World War II, he started seriously thinking about this subject.