My Four Walls is set in China’s One Child Policy government, where there is a little girl called Xīwàng, which means Hope/Wish. Readers watch Xīwàng build up the courage to be a Somebody in a country that doesn’t acknowledge her existence, being the
second child in a family that cannot afford to pay the One Child Policy fine.
second child in a family that cannot afford to pay the One Child Policy fine.
The One Child Policy has always intrigued me as a Chinese adoptee myself. The story is told through Xīwàng’s perspective and how she would feel, based on an assortment of real Heihaizi children (Black Children). Heihaizi are made up of largely the second child that is not registered in China’s National Household Registry, these are a majority of the time hidden from society due to cultural shame. Few Heihaizi families and children have tried to get them an identity through legal courts. With my story, I tried to reflect a hopeful future of being granted to be a Somebody. My target audience is +15, interested in modern Chinese history and culture, like myself, through an emotional visual watercolor style.
Playing on the concept that Heihaizi don’t have an identity, the readers never see Xīwàng’s face, taking away her identity, the rest of the characters all have a clear facial identity. Minimizing Xīwàng’s color scheme, whilst giving other characters’ Chinese patriotic colors increases Xīwàng isolation through color symbolism. The distance between Xīwàng and her surrounding environment emphasizes the cultural shame around her existence.
Digital Sketches
