If you’ve been online in China lately—perhaps watching a reality show on a streaming platform, or swiping through one of the many short videos on WeChat—you might be struck by the wave of nostalgia (怀旧风潮 huáijiù fēngcháo) that seems to have swept through cyberspace. Chinese netizens born in the 1980s and 1990s, have begun to “recall youth (回忆青春 huíyì qīngchūn)” by revisiting celebrities, songs, and shows that were hits when they were children and teens...as well as old scandals from that time.

The chief architect of this trip down memory lane is singer and actress Cyndi Wang Xinling, one of the earliest entertainment idols in the Sinosphere, who debuted in Taiwan in 2003 and was nicknamed the “sweetheart high priestess (甜心教主 Tiánxīn Jiàozhǔ),” for her girlish appearance, sweet lyrics, cute dancing style, and bubbly acting in plenty of “Taiwan idol dramas (台湾偶像剧 Táiwān ǒuxiàngjù).” After topping various charts in the noughties, Wang all but disappeared from the public eye for a decade, but returned during the third season of Sisters Who Make Waves (《乘风破浪的姐姐》 Chéngfēng Pòlàng de Jiějie), colloquially known as Sisters 3 (浪姐3, Làngjiě sān), a popular reality show that features 30 female celebrities and ex-celebrities over the age of 30, competing to form an all-female group.

Wang debuted in the first episode on May 20 by singing her 2004 hit “Love You (《爱你》),” sporting a ponytail and a school uniform similar to what she wore in the music video 18 years ago. Seeing their idol seemingly not aged at all, many viewers born in the 80s and 90s, who grew up watching Wang’s videos and regarded her as their “first on-screen crush (荧幕初恋 yíngmù chūliàn),” wrote: “I was in ‘high three’ when I became her fan, and now I’ve got the ‘three highs’ and she’s still a young girl (追她时我高三，现在我三高，她还是那个少女 Zhuī tā shí wǒ gāosān, xiànzài wǒ sāngāo, tā háishì nàge shàonǚ),” making a play on words between their third and final year of high school (高三 gāosān) and the “three highs (三高 sāngāo)”—high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar—that come with age.