MOVIE

This is China of a particular sort, I do not know

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‘This is China of a particular sort, I do not know’ is a postcolonial response to chinoiserie, a European decorative style imitating Chinese motifs popular in the eighteenth century. It is set and entirely filmed at the Royal Pavilion Brighton, a British pleasure palace built by George IV based on the idea of illusion, and hence its interior being entirely chinoiserie. Across five dialogues and one monologue, the artist herself and relevant historical individuals – that are George IV the British King, Chien-lung the Chinese Emperor who received the Macartney Embassy, George Macartney who led the first British embassy to China, William Alexander the draughtsman from the embassy, and Ann a Ching Dynasty royal family member and also the artist’s childhood neighbour in Taiwan – question, miss, argue and disagree with each other over the representation of Chineseness in chinoiserie at the Pavilion.