The one-child policy, which was first implemented in the late 1970s and ended in 2015, has been one of the most controversial policies in modern Chinese history. With its profound impact on China’s education system, resource allocation and social structure, for those who were born in the 1980s, the far-reaching policy was closely associated with their self and social identities. The ‘only child’ thus became a term to both define and differentiate the social generation. The small photo is of the artist himself as a child, installed at his corresponding height. The 3,500 grams of pure gold on the wall adjacent serves as a metaphor and provocation. The irresistible temptations of the glittering, precious metal versus its cheap, everyday mold (the egg carton) acts as the perfect portrait of a conflicted generation defined by power vs powerlessness, materiality vs conceit. The lone egg sits on a golden throne: In this new context the relationship between the egg-tray and the egg is reversed.
