CONCEPT
The theater production of The Chinese Lady tells the story of fourteen-year-old Afong Moy as she’s brought to the United States from Guangzhou Province in 1834. As one of the first Chinese women to set foot on U.S. soil, she is put on display as entertainment and titled “The Chinese Lady”.
The theater production of The Chinese Lady tells the story of fourteen-year-old Afong Moy as she’s brought to the United States from Guangzhou Province in 1834. As one of the first Chinese women to set foot on U.S. soil, she is put on display as entertainment and titled “The Chinese Lady”.
She performs similar to a circus act, for white Americans showing them how she eats, what she wears, and the highlight of the event: how she walks with bound feet. She serves as a spectacle, and overall the show portrays the dark yet whimsical portrayal of America through the eyes of a young Chinese woman. I chose to represent Afong, through the Chinese symbol of beauty, a peacock, and manipulate the feathers to look like peering eyes. The uncomfortable spectacle captures the tone of the show.
