This study adopts a qualitative research approach, employing one-on-one semi-structured interviews to explore how members of China’s Generation Z perceive, narrate, and emotionally project their childhood memories. The aim is to extract shared emotional cues and spatial imagery from participants’ subjective experiences, providing narrative and visual inspiration for the construction of VR scenes.
A total of five Chinese Generation Z individuals, born between 2000 and 2003, were invited to participate in the study. This cohort grew up during a period of rapid social and cultural transformation, and their childhood memories often embody both nostalgia and distinctive features of their era. To ensure diversity in geographical background and life experience, the participants included male, female, and gender minority individuals from northern, eastern, southeastern, and southwestern China.
Each interview was conducted individually, lasting approximately 30 to 45 minutes. The questions focused on participants’ recollections of childhood scenes, objects, and emotional impressions. The complete questionnaire is provided in Appendix A. All interviews were conducted in quiet settings and audio-recorded with participants’ consent. The recordings were then transcribed verbatim, and the transcripts were repeatedly reviewed during analysis to identify key words and recurring themes.
To help participants recall their childhood memories more naturally, they were not required to respond strictly within the boundaries of the interview questions. Instead, they were encouraged to speak freely and associate spontaneously, allowing their most vivid and emotionally resonant memories to surface without being shaped by the structure of the questionnaire.
Subsequently, I conducted thematic analysis on the interview texts, identifying recurring emotions and motifs within participants’ narratives. These were gradually categorized into themes such as “spaces that made me feel safe as a child” and “objects of collective memory.” Examples include playing with friends and classmates in the neighborhood after school, or recalling Rubik’s cubes and colorful stationery. These themes and symbols were then translated into the design elements of the VR environment—spatial atmosphere, color filters, scene content, and interactive imagery—ultimately forming a “collective subconscious space” (or “shared memory space”) guided by emotional resonance rather than literal reconstruction. The goal was to evoke a sense of childhood nostalgia through visual and perceptual experience.
Throughout the process of interviewing, analysis, and design, I acted as both a listener and an interpreter. Consequently, the final VR experience inevitably reflects subjective selection and artistic transformation. The purpose of this research is not to “recreate” the authentic childhood scenes of China’s Generation Z in the early 2000s, but to explore whether nostalgic emotions can be re-experienced and shared through the medium of virtual reality.
