Analysis Of The Novelette Folding Beijing By Hao Jingfang

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The novelette Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang takes place in a fantasy world that is divided into three spaces. Each of these spaces has a social class of people, and divided 48 hours between the classes 24 to the First, 16 Second, and eight to the Third.The story follows Lao Dao’s journey between all three spaces in an effort to earn money for his daughter to go to kindergarten. Hao claims she uses the differences in the spaces to illustrate problems between classes and allows them to be more easily understood and impossible to ignore. Hao’s use of stories instead of statistics allows people to feel empathetic towards the fact that it takes a miracle to move up classes. This is illustrated through the standard of living, gender differences, …show more content…
Lao Dao ended up in First Space on a mission to give a love letter to Qin Tian. While there he notices how differently women act: “Occasionally, well-dressed women passed Lao dao in two-wheeled carts. The passengers adopted such graceful postures that it was as though they were in some fashion show”(240). Women in First Space are suppose to be elegant and dressed up. After Lao Dao met Qin Tian, he realized these women may be models, however, they are being held in cages by society. Qin Tian is very smart and could have had a good job, but instead she is a part time assistant to the bank’s president (242). Hao uses Qin Tian to give social commentary on the gender standards in the upper class. She presents the idea here that women are suppose to look pretty and elegant, and do nothing else, even if they are capable of more. In a space where women do not work, how were any women suppose to move up to this space, except through marriage? In addition to this, it is also vastly different from the gender standards in the Third Space. Lao Dao’s neighbors are young women who are extremely different from any woman in First Space: “Ah Bei’s voice was sharp and brittle, and it cut through the air like a knife. Lao Dao looked at Ah Bei, at her young, determined, angry face, and thought she was very beautiful”(262). Here Lao Dao seems to appreciate the beauty in standing up for yourself and being independent, instead of being graceful and weak. However, Lao Dao goes on to talk about how he wishes Ah Bei could be graceful, so she could find love(262). Through this Hao points out how women in the lower class are still held to the standard of being elegant women when trying to find love, while their survival depends on them going against this standard, being independent and determined

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