Yiwen Wang

In this project, I take my family as an example to explore how a “class traveller” (a person who has moved higher in class through education) has been shaped by an era of significant social and economic changes in China and how this has affected their relationship with their children. 

It has been more than 40 years since China's reforms in began in 1978. It has been a period of extremely rapid and fundamental change in China. During this period, we experienced the market reforms, the spread of higher education, the surge in business and the changes in the view of money and consumerism. 

Many of the Chinese class travellers like my father grew up during this period of rapid development after China's reforms. Their fates are inseparable from this era which has led to a change in their class that deeply influenced their views on finance and their relationships with their children.

In this video My Future is Not a Dream, I tell the story of a Chinese father from the perspective of his daughter. The animations used are child like and contrast with the serious tone of the photographs. The narrative draws upon my own experiences of a child growing up in this era - the father's pursuit of eggs, luxury goods, city lovers - but hopes to speak of a germination of young Chinese women's’ experiences more widely.

Songs:Heart Rain by Ning Mao, Yuying Yang/ Yesterday Once More by The Carpenters/ My future is not a Dream by Yusheng Zhang

Some of the photography from Chinese news archive