The experience of costume and lighting also left me conflicted. The veil, the qipao, the golden light—all of these elements appear beautiful, yet I am fully aware that behind them lies a continuously consumed image of the “Oriental woman.” I did not want to fall back into that trap of symbolization. Instead, I reminded myself that these symbols should be presented as “questions,” not as “answers” to please the audience. The fabric, the lighting, and the body in front of the camera were not there to beautify, but to expose.

At the end of the work, I did not give a neat solution, nor did I stage a so-called declaration of “awakening.” The ending remains in a state of ambiguity: neither completely freed, nor entirely silenced. For me, this open ending feels truer, because both the condition of women and my own bodily experience can never be fully summarized by a single statement or gesture.

So my feeling is this: the work functions more as a “continuing question” than as a finished answer.