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Tuzki Project – USC Research Notes

  • Writer: Jackie Jingyi Xu
    Jackie Jingyi Xu
  • Jul 27, 2018
  • 12 min read

Updated: Mar 26, 2019

The following document contains research done by USC Annenberg students in the master of Communication Management program for the Tuzki project in development.




Content

Film & TV Suggestions ………………………………………………………………………… 2 

Talent Recommendations ……………………………………………………………………….. 5 

Personality Types ……………………………………………………………………………… 19 

Plot Suggestions & Questions …………………………………………………………………. 20 

Urban Residence & Cultural Context ………………………………………………………….. 21 


Film & TV Suggestions 

Us and Them (后来的我们) 

Year: 2018 

Director: Rene LIU 

Synopsis

This film follows two characters who meet on the train from Beijing to their hometown of Dongbei (northern China) during the Chinese Spring Festival (New Year) travel rush. They end up falling in love with each other, but soon break up. After a ten year separation, they reconnect and reminisce about their love. 

Comment

We recommend this film because the two main characters are from the same small village in northern China and the male character is also a tech-guy who designs video games. They break up with each other because of the pressure from surviving in the big city and chasing after what they think they want. This movie was also criticized for presenting inappropriate relationship values because when the characters reconnect years later, the male character is married. So this film is a great example of how Chinese audiences compare the values presented in modern narratives against traditional norms. 

Available on Netflix

How Long Will I Love You (超时空同居)

Year: 2018 

Director: Lun SU 

Synopsis

GU Xiaojiao, a woman hoping to gain back her family house by marrying a rich man, finds herself one morning waking up next to a man, LU, from 1999. They discover that their timelines have merged through the bedroom door. The rich-hunting Gu and the talented but poor architect Lu both seize the opportunity to achieve their dreams with their newfound time rift, but the price of success is higher than they expected. 

Comment

We recommend this film because the characterization of the young architect Lu is a great reference for a male protagonist. The script has one of the most well-rounded characters in recent Chinese films whose trajectory from being honest, decent, and kind to being a real estate tycoon who only cares about money, power, and tricks is realistic. It accurately shows the inner struggle of how much Lu would risk to escape poverty, while still being presented as a lovable character.  

Available on YouTube

Animal World (动物世界) 

Year: 2018 

Director: Yan HAN 

Synopsis

Busy working as a clown in an arcade and taking care of his paralyzed mother, Kaisi lives on the brink of poverty and sometimes needs the help of his girlfriend (played by ZHOU Dongyu) to make rent. Burdened by his mother’s expensive medical bills, Kaisi realizes he has to make a fortune to not only save his mother but also give his beloved girlfriend, who is a nurse in the hospital, a decent life. However, greed forces Kaisi into a gambling spree and in order to pay his back large debt, he boards a ship called "Destiny" for a mysterious gambling party. The ship’s rules seem very simple; participants take pokers marked with "rock”, “paper”, and “scissors" as props for seizing the star sign of their opponent. However, faced with a group of desperate gamblers, any flaw can be utilized to win. 

Comment

We recommend this film because the first 30 minutes build up the challenges, burdens, and motivations of the lead characters who need money and highlight the housing issues and Chinese personality types we discussed in our meeting.  

Film is available in AMC Atlantic Times Square 14 https://www.amctheatres.com/movies/animal-world-56832

Ex-Files (前任攻略)

Year: 2014 

Director: Yusheng TIAN 

Synopsis The film is about love triangle. The male protagonist Meng Yun falls in love with a girl he meets at a friend’s wedding, but their relationship is challenged by his best female friend from college who is also his business partner and who has secretly loved him for years. 

Comment 

We recommend this film because the protagonist’s romantic relationship with two women is a good example of how a Chinese man deals women who have completely different personalities and backgrounds. His business partner/best female friend is mature and smart and his new girlfriend is young, innocent and outgoing. Although he ends up with his girlfriend because Chinese people highly regard loyalty in a romantic relationship, his romantic story with his best friend is what the audience responded to the most. 

Available on Tencent (English subtitles available)

Women In Beijing (北京女子图鉴)

Year: 2018 

Director: Zhi LI 

Synopsis 

This TV series is about a girl from Chengdu moving to Beijing alone and it follows her journey to enhancing her professional life (with a promotion to manager of a notable internet company) and romantic life (as she dates several different types of men) over the course of ten years. It accurately portrays the independent female figure in China. 

Comment

We recommend this series because this is a drama that has realistic encounters (finding a job, getting promotions, buying house with “Hukou”, getting married) that a normal young girl or boy from a small city will have when they try to survive in a big city in China. This is also a good TV series for showing how younger generations wrestle between striving for traditional forms of success (like money and power) and following a dream or finding love. 

Available on Youku (English subtitle unavailable)

YouTuber Review of the Drama

Talent Recommendations

“Good Girl” Hometown Character 1. Dongyu ZHOU（周冬雨）


· Dongyu’s debut was Under the Hawthorn Tree (2010, director: Yimou Zhang), a film about romance during China's Cultural Revolution. Dongyu was the leading role and was lauded for her fresh and authentic portrayal of her character in the film.  

· Currently she has diversified her repertoire by playing quick-witted girls and ancient/historical characters. We chose her because she is talented and suitable for most types of roles and always amazes audiences. 

· Representative Works: 

oMy Old Classmate (2014): A Chinese high school love story  

oSoul Mate (2016): A story of friendship between two girls. Dongyu won a Golden Horse Award and a Golden Rooster Award for this movie 

2. Shuang ZHENG（郑爽）

· Now one of the most popular actresses in China, Shuang is a major influencer with a strong fanbase. Her image is a typical cute and innocent girl.  

· We chose her for her suitable “good girl” persona in China. Her career is now resurging after a few box office slumps but she is still beloved by fans.  

· Representative Works: 

oRush to the Dead Summer (2017): High school love story 

oLove O2O (2016): Adapted TV series about love between online game players 

3. Qin LI（李沁）


· Qin Li is not as popular as the above two, but she has a classic image and personality. She also studies Kun Opera, the traditional Chinese opera style. Most of her notable roles are in TV series but in recent years she has been featured on the big screen. 

· Representative Works: 

oThe Dream of Red Mansions (2010): Her first TV series, playing a leading role 

oPrincess Agents (2017): Another series, this time playing the antagonist 

4. Landi LI（李兰迪）


· Landi is young (18 years old) but is well-known for her performance in My Huckleberry Friends, an online TV series about a love story between childhood friends. She was just admitted in the Central Academy of Drama in July.  

· We chose her for the “hometown” girl as she is close in age to the main audience demographic and we can see similar traits in her (sweet, innocent etc.) 

· Representative Works: 

oMy Huckleberry Friends (2017): A story about two friends who met in childhood, studied together all throughout school and finally get married in adulthood 

“Bad Girl” City Character

1. Wei QI (戚薇)



· Qi Wei’s debut was in the talent show Best Duet and she later became famous for Beauty's Rival in Palace (2010), a historical drama. She is known for being classy with cool charm.  

· Representative Works: 

oI am DuLaLa (2016): Series about an ambitious HR director and her love life 

oWomen in Beijing (2018): Series about a woman’s life after moving to Beijing from Sichuan 

2. Baijia ZHANG (张柏嘉)



· Known for the military/bodyguard series Hot Girl (2012), Bai Jia studied drama in Shanghai and has guest starred in many Chinese TV series. Most of her roles are women who are elegant, strong and cold. 

· Representative Works: 

oThe Love Knot: His Excellency’s First Love (2018): An amateur reporter is cursed by ancient magic and can only be helped by the elusive Jade Master  

3. Zhilei XIN(辛芷蕾)


· Her debut was in the famous Chinese film Painted Skin (2008) and she graduated from the top acting university in China (Central Academy of Drama).  

· Her persona can be described as ambitious, competitive, talented and independent. 

· Representative Works: 

oMr. Right (2012): Series about three men finding their significant other 

oCrosscurrent (2016): A women’s voyage to find the meaning of life  

4. Likun WANG(王丽坤)



· Wang Li Kun is a Manchu, a Chinese ethnic minority. She graduated from Beijing Dance Academy and made her debut in the television series Seven Swordsmen (2006). She is known for being pure (free from vulgarity), mature, and open. 

· Professional Profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Likun

· Representative Works: 

oSomewhere Only We Know (2015): A woman betrayed by her fiance goes to Prague to visit family and falls in love on the journey. 

oEx-Files (2014): Romantic comedy about marriage and past relationships 

5. Shuying JIANG (江疏影)



· Educated at the Shanghai Theatre Academy and the University of East Anglia, Jiang is known for being sweet, free, independent and having bad manners. 

· Representative Works:  

oSo Young (2013): A story about a beautiful girl in college 

oCall of Heroes (2016): Hong Kong action film about a teacher and her students 

Male Protagonist

1. Mark CHAO (赵又廷)


· Mark is a Taiwanese-Canadian film and TV actor, born in 1984 (34 years old).  

· He has a lot of acting experience with leading characters in modern settings, including Love (2012), First Time (2012), Caught in the Web (2013), and So Young (2013). 

2. Yishan ZHANG (张一山)


· Yishan Zhang is a former child star who is now a promising film and TV actor.  

· As a young adult in his 20s, Yishan is well-known for his role in a sitcom named Home with Kids (2004) and as the protagonist in the crime thriller Yu Zui (2016). 

3. Boran JING (井柏然)


· Born in 1989 (29 years old), Boran Jing is a noteworthy actor and singer. 

· After winning the 2007 talent contest My Hero, Boran has appeared in a number of TV series and Chinese box office hits such as Monster Hunt (2015), Time Raiders (2016), Monster Hunt 2 (2018), and Us and Them (2018). 

4. Lun DENG (邓伦)


· Lun Deng is a 26-year-old rising star in China. 

· He has appeared in a lot of TV series that center around modern life and love stories. 

· Previous works include Flowers in Fog (2013), Because of Meeting You (2017), and Sweet Dreams (2018). 

5. Ruoyun ZHANG (张若昀)


· Ruoyun Zhang is a Chinese actor born in 1988 (30 years old). 

· He has played a part in various TV dramas, such as the dramedy Wu Xin: The Monster Killer (2015), romance drama Promise of Migratory Birds (2015), fantasy drama Novoland: The Castle in the Sky (2016), espionage drama Sparrow (2016), thriller Medical Examiner Dr. Qin (2016), and romantic dramedy The Evolution of Our Love (2018). 

Personality Types

· Phoenix man (凤凰男): A "phoenix man" is someone who came from humble beginnings, made his way through school, exhausted the resources of his family and is expected to change the fate of the family when he eventually succeeds. 

· Peacock girl (孔雀女): A “peacock girl” is someone who came from an urban and relatively wealthy family. They are normally born and bred in the city. 

· "Phoenix men" have been unpopular in the Chinese marriage market for a long time, especially among "peacock girls.” Women generally dislike what they perceive to be phoenix men's insecurity, fear of failure, penny-pinching, inferiority complexes, and prioritization of his extended family over his own wife and kids. https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/05/ladies-beware-phoenix-men/276119/

· Zhanan (渣男): A zhanan man excels at nothing, yet feels very good about himself because none of his failures are his fault. They are good with women and they cheat whenever they get a chance, http://www.thatsmags.com/shanghai/post/14505/chinese-urban-dictionary-zha-nan

· Baifumei (白富美): This can be literally translated as “fair skin, wealthy, pretty”. Baifumei are women with fair complexions, riches, and beauty (the term is a literal combination of the three attributes). 

· Straight Man Cancer (直男癌): This label is usually used to describe a group of men who are stubbornly sexist and patriarchal. They are known to belittle women's value, obstruct women's rights and the movement for gender equality. They can be found in both cities and rural areas. 

Plot Suggestions & Questions

Suggestions

· The antagonist can be a “peacock girl” who got her job through her father or mother’s connections. She’s intelligent and driven, but needs a project to really prove her individual worth and change her colleagues’ perspective of her, which is why she needs to use and expose Tuzki. 

Questions

· Where is the protagonist’s hometown?  

· What is the trip for? Some cities we have recommended are more suitable for young people and vary with activities. Will the protagonist travel with friends in the film? Or just reminisce about old trips that he used to take when looking at pictures etc.? 

· The main character’s name “Lee” is a bit awkward and uncommon, it’s better to have a name with two characters (e.g. Ang Lee). There are many to choose from that are more typical in China and that are easy for Western audiences to pronounce. 

Urban Residence & Cultural Context

Hukou System

· China’s hukou (household registration) system, divides people into “rural” and “non-rural” residency in a given city or town for the original purposes of taxation, conscription and control of population flow.  

· Residency in bigger cities is generally more appealing due to access to better education, work opportunities, health care facilities and other public services.  

· People may stay in a city without hukou but they will not gain the same full benefits that registered citizens have. Things have changed since 2016, as people who meet some simple requirements can apply for a “Residence Permit” (pinyin spell :jū zhù zhèng, simplified Chinese: 居住证) that enables them to enjoy basic benefits equal to that of a permanent resident. 

·  A person might change his/her hukou by means of 

1. Marriage (only rural to non-rural) 

2. Working in a city and fulfilling certain requirements, which is the easier option for people with a high education level. 

· Hukou has caused an unbalanced distribution of resources between rural and urban areas, resulting in an unstable population flow from undeveloped areas that in turn force big cities to be stricter with their policies towards migrants. Hukou can also create problems for families and “left-behind children” (who can only accept free education in their residency city, while their parents work elsewhere).  

For more information: 

Housing Conventions

· If two people marry, often the bride or groom’s family is required to purchase a house to guarantee a stable life. For those who are not wealthy, a common practice is that the two families purchase a house together. In recent years, given the high price of housing, young people in big cities have chosen a “naked marriage” (marrying without a house). 

· What makes owning a house so important: 

1. The traditional Chinese value of stability and sense of belonging 

2. Education 

a. Which public school children can attend is determined by school district in which the house is located in. 

· The surge of housing prices has also resulted in high rent. For example, a single bedroom in an apartment near central Shanghai costs more than 3,000 RMB/ month (average monthly wage of the city is 6,378 RMB), while in Beijing it can be more than 4,000 RMB/month (average monthly wage of the city is 6,906 RMB).  

Living Expenses

Monthly expenses in big cities (Beijing as an example here): 

¥ 1,200 food 

¥ 300 water, electricity 

¥ 5,000 house renting 

¥ 500 fees for a ¥200,000 car 

For example, if 3 people eat at an ordinary restaurant they will spend ¥200. If someone buys a ¥11,000 Toyota Corolla, they need to pay 30% of the total cost (around ¥50,000) as a down payment and then pay a ¥1,500 loan per month for 5 years (interest rate = 4.75%). 

Education and Salary 

· Most of China's population live in the countryside and that is reflected in education. Rural areas have 95.2% of all elementary schools and 87.6-71.5% of high schools.   80% of the undergraduates in Beijing and Shanghai are from other provinces. 

· Most of the higher education institutions are government-owned. Degrees from these institutions have 4 levels: first-class universities, second-class universities, third-class universities, and technical degree (“Da Zhuan”).

· 9,400,000 students attended the same “National College Entrance Examination” last year. To enter first-class universities, students must rank in the top 6%- 25% for the National College Entrance Examination in their own province. For top schools, a Beijing born student can rank 5.33% to get in but a student from a rural area must be in the 1% so there is unfairness.  

Average Graduate Salaries from Various Universities  

Degree (undergraduates) 

Salary (after graduation) 

Salary (5-7 years after graduation) 

First class 

¥7,000-9,000 

¥8,000-20,000 

Second class 

¥6,000-7,000 

¥7,000-12,000 

Third class 

¥2,000-3,500 

¥4,000-5,000 

Technical degree 

¥2,000-9,000 

¥4,000-10,000 

National Average Salaries - Private vs. State Owned: 

After graduation, a software programmer earn ¥6,300-6,820/month on average and in big cities, salaries for tech positions like a programmer can be more than ¥20,000/month. Compared to a state-owned (Guo Qi, 国企) organizations, an undergraduate who works as an administrator earns ¥3,000-5,500/month, and a public high school teacher earns ¥5,000-6,000/month. 

Education and Living Expenses Sources: 

Leisure 

1. Tourist Destinations

· Yunnan province (云南): Popular cities include Dali (大理) and Lijiang (丽江). Yunnan is located in the far southwest of China. It is famous for its beautiful landscapes and unique ethnic customs.  

· Chongqing (重庆) and Chengdu (成都): These two cities are located in southwest China and are famous for hot pot, Mahjong (tile game) and folk music.  

· Xi’an (西安): Located in the middle of northern China, Xi’an is famous for the Terracotta warriors. It’s especially popular for tourists from the north. 

· Xiamen (厦门): Xiamen is located in southeast China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It’s especially popular for tourists from the south.  

· Qinghai (青海) and Tibet (西藏): These two provinces are located in the west part of China and are famous for their beautiful landscapes.  

2. KTV in China

· Chinese people like to go to KTV with friends, family and colleagues. It’s a common way of socializing where people sing, drink, have snacks and play dice and trumps.

· A KTV room may look like:



· Video from a KTV in China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmn7kJyDWsc


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