Artist Statement

Youngition

Youngition, also known as youth tradition, is a fresh take on traditional Han Chinese culture from today’s youth. Young people like me believe that tradition lives because young people catch its romance and add new glories to it. After 50 years of continuous globalization and drastic economic and technological changes in China, it is not unreasonable for Chinese young people to have novel ideas about the customs and etiquette passed down from their forefathers. However, some members of the older generation are opposed to the idea. They are adamant that tradition should remain as it always was. The goal of this youngiition art installation is to highlight the difference, and changes from ancient to modern society, demonstrating that tradition itself is the book of changes after thousands of years of inheritance. For thousands of years, young people have absorbed and inherited traditional culture while innovating and adding their own new traditions.

The yellow emperor is regarded as the ancestor of all Han Chinese. It is a deity in Chinese religion and a powerful symbol within Chinese nationalism and the clan system. A lot of rules were created with this clan system to restrain themselves as a practice to become a better person. Nowadays, the young generation is less bound by clan circles when they make decisions. Instead, they get involved in other circles, such as partnerships, leader-member relationships, and consumer-client relationships. Meanwhile, the young generation celebrates traditional deities in a modern way that helps the general public to recognize and commemorate them.

I hope that by creating this installation of youngition, I will be able to demonstrate the positive mental attitude of our young people, promote cultural exchanges between people of different generations, and explore new definitions for our traditional culture.