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Shōjo manga (girls’ comics) has been seminal to the genre as a whole and especially formative for Japanese girls’ culture throughout the postwar era.
Shōjo Heart is a metaphor from Shōjo manga. It means people’s feelings and thoughts straight from the heart.
Currently, there are more and more Chinese students who come to the US to study. They have their own perspectives and lifestyles to this freedom culture. After years, they break down to two main groups. The first group is one I identify now people who to me act reasonably. They study hard, and they get a job for hard-working people. The second one is the group that I was in during my first two years of college when I studied for my bachelor degree. People in that group are grandstanding to each other, and they live fake lives based on their economic level. Therefore, people want more money to maintain the lives they are faking.
I want to use my texts and photography to criticize this social issue of grandstanding. Although grandstanding provides young students opportunities to assert identities inaccessible to them back home, there are significant side-effects. Also, I try to find why and how they turn out like this because they actually act differently when they are in China. I want them to keep a Shōjo Heart when they live their lives because I know how hard it is to fight against the expectation about prejudice forces people to grandstand in order to fit into the group.
Bike
ASU has a street called Ladies Avenue. Boys drive a variety of fancy sports cars to Ladies Avenue to pick up girls holding luxury bags. But the boys’ cars may be borrowed, and the girls’ bags may also be fake.
Starbucks
When people put their Starbucks photos on social media, they actually pretend that Starbucks is very cheap and ordinary in order to satisfy their vanity.
Doggy Porsche
People spend a huge amount of money on pets to show off but not to raise them.
Purchasing Agent
I once started to sell beauty products. I bought them at a cheaper price than in China. I shipped those back to China. People thought I was annoying for posting the products on social media, and the result was a low GPA and no income.
Bus
The girls told me that no one girl in the United States was willing to accompany boys on a bus or tram. The boys must drive to pick girls up.
Sweet Air
A Chinese student from the University of Maryland once said in a graduation speech at the university that five layers of masks are needed in China, and the air in the United States is free and sweet. Actually, her hometown is a city with a particularly excellent natural environment.
Food
After taking this picture, some girls don’t eat to build an unhealthy figure.
Weed
You cannot find weed easily in China.
Sex
The purpose of boys who “have” sports cars and luxury clothing taking girls out to play is straightforward.
Clicker Time
I used to help five friends to register their attendance with clickers. And I had to use my backpack to cover my hands every “Clicker time.”
Drinking All Day
Messed up Monday, Tipsy Tuesday, Wasted Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday, Fucked up Friday, Sloshed Saturday, Shitfaced Sunday.
Shoes
So many shoes are comfortable and well-designed for different occasions. But they must pick the most expensive, especially with rivets.
Burberry
I took some Burberry shirts out of the storage room in order to take this picture.
Selfie
People take selfies like this.
Shopping
People think luxury brands in the US are much cheaper than those in China because of the tax difference. So, they start to shop a lot. Actually, luxury is still costly.
Library
People really don’t want to go to the library. Some of them even don’t know where the library is.
Racing
People will race on the mountain from time to time. Sometimes their cars will turn over because they reach 120mph.
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