In Chinese culture, and other Asian cultures, it's common to pretend that everything is okay when it is not. My pieces subtly hint at the idea that there is an underlying unhappiness by appearing beautiful and perfect on the surface, yet there seems to be something off. If you take a closer look, they are lonely and wistful.

In Chinese, there's a phrase, 全家在一起, that means the entire family is together. I want that feeling in my pieces as well as a hint of loneliness. Throughout the story, I focus on 阴阳 (yin and yang). There can't be yin without yang, but there's also a clear separation. The fourth piece shows two wishing boats unsuccessfully wishing for the entire family to be together. This leads to the food pieces showing a decline in togetherness: the scene is inviting, but there's no one there, as if the table has been abandoned. To keep that hope alive, the last pieces shows someone wishing for their parents to be happy.

Giving a girl a hairpin is a symbol of love, but if it breaks, it might become a bad omen.

If two people are yin and yang, can they really coexist together?

One stamp printing two snakes to show the incompatibility of two snakes in a relationship.

To make a wish, the boats must be in water, but there's no one there to set them free.

1 meat, 1 vegetable, and 1 mixed dish. They all go together for a meal, but two are opposites.

Greens on one side and meat on the other, but only one pot and cat: dissonant and harmonious

A person wishing for their parents to be happy.