Analyzing China's transition to a market economy 40 years ago, the video highlights contradictions within “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” By juxtaposing examples of the country's modern, hyper-accelerated capitalism with phrases from the transitional era, the work amplifies the ideological dissonance.
A montage of e-commerce livestreams—highly characteristic of China's contemporary digital ecosystem—is unapologetically overlaid with “danmaku”-style chat, a subtitling system popularized in mainland China. The chat messages, adapted from CCP slogans during the country's economic reform period, are infused with modern internet slang.
