This interactive story is a composition of mainstream Chinese video clips that depict the role of women in modern Chinese society. In this story, you take on the role of an urban, educated, single woman from the emerging middle-class. In this role, you are compelled to make a series of choices that conflict her free will with the will of the collective society.
This work questions how information shapes ideology and aims to demonstrate how Chinese local media depict ‘leftover women’ through ideology - examining the notion of choice allowed by single women within this social infrastructure.
The term ‘Leftover Women’ was coined in 2007 by the Women’s Federation of China to stigmatize educated single women. State media, news reports, surveys, articles, cartoons and TV shows about Leftover Women are clearly an attempt to stop educated urban women from delaying marriage any further. Former Chinese president Hu Jintao described marriage and family as ‘the basic cell of society and a harmonious family’, backed by the Communist Party declaration that marriage is the foundation of a harmonious society. The Chinese government seeks out more eligible female bachelors to marry the surplus of men left by the one-child policy in an attempt to promote a more peaceful and harmonious society.
Is it possible for Chinese women to break free from the ideology perpetuated by China’s mass media campaign on leftover women that has been internalized by Chinese society for over 10 years?