A Study of The West, 2021 

A video essay about Shanzhai (copycat) culture in China (mainly focusing on architecture and home decor). The purpose of this video is to present a hypothesis that the copycat of the West is identical with Orientalism as a theory. Each sentence of the narration is quoted from books, papers, journals, and websites about Orientalism, implying that each sentence has been "copied." By employing Orientalism theory, this video explains the copycat of the West is a Chinese gaze of the West, a fantasy of the Other, and a projection of self-anxiety. Each image in the film was sourced from Chinese social media and is matched with the narration. Following the conclusion of this video, are plots of some Western YouTubers traveled to China yet still examine the Shanzhai architectures from an Orientalist perspective. It's a tangle of mutual gazes.