The multi-media film Alphabet discussed the culture homogenization in China where the use of English is fetishized, and western culture is admired by the Chinese people. This work is inspired after attending a class taught by East Asian Studies' scholar Rey Chow discussing how China is perceived by western scholars (China as the Other) and how China is shaping its own narratives in modernity.

 

I used symbols such as a unique analphabet with English characters on the left, a combination of Chinese characters on the right mimicking the pronunciation of the English characters. In other words, the Chinese characters become functional instead of meaningful, it is distracted by its history and culture but becomes a tool for learning the homogenized language in the world, which I found also represents the postcolonial situation China is in when encountering foreign culture’s interrogations.