Lack of Period Products During Shanghai’s Lockdown a Bloody Nuisance
Too busy to get your daily dose of RADII? We got you every Tuesday with a summary of all the freshest takes on China’s youth culture in the last week.
- Women are struggling to get ahold of period products during the lockdown in Shanghai. Group buying and online orders aren’t solving the issue, RADII learns.
- Can’t afford big crypto bucks to splash on NFT art? No problem. This exhibition exists solely for your viewing pleasure.
- From Eileen Gu to ‘the’ dress transformation, these Met Gala-related topics were hot on the lips of Chinese netizens.
- May is AAPI Heritage Month! Take a moment to discover the origins of the AAPI acronym, the heritage month’s history, and more.
Intrigued? Keep scrolling, my friend.
Lack of Period Products During Shanghai’s Lockdown a Bloody Nuisance
How does one get ahold of menstrual products when it is already hard to procure daily produce? While males are blissfully exempt from having to mull over this conundrum, the question has plagued many women caught in Shanghai’s ongoing lockdown.
According to an article published by The Paper, many women have struggled to acquire sanitary pads or tampons, and, often, their needs are ignored and deemed ‘not that important.’ The article adds that because period products are considered ‘personal products,’ they aren’t included in government supplies.
Video director Liu Yi counts among Shanghai’s frustrated female population. She shares that the problem is a first.
Prior to the lockdown, Liu could simply pick up what she needed off any supermarket shelf. However, she has since discovered the importance of stocking her home with period products.
A strange phenomenon born out of quarantine, group buying has proven to be a lifeline for those who aren’t receiving enough government rations. That said, the medium isn’t as effective for non-comestibles.
Period shame, a persistent taboo in China, prevents many women from voicing their needs in WeChat groups.
“It is hard for me to ask, ‘Does anyone want to buy pads?’ in a big group chat with strangers,” shared Liu. “As a woman raised in East Asian culture, I feel uncomfortable.”
Furthermore, those who dare to openly discuss buying pads or tampons with strangers often find that sellers will only ship their wares on a wholesale basis. More often than not, the demand in any one compound simply isn’t sufficient to meet a vendor’s minimum order.
In mid-April, Liu resorted to placing a large online order. Due to tight movement regulations and a severe lack of delivery drivers, however, her delivery has yet to arrive.
The creative has had to depend on the kindness of her neighbors — a girl in her compound gifted her some pads — and less effective alternatives like toilet paper to get through her cycle.
While browsing delivery apps, Liu has also observed that most convenience stores list condoms among their online wares but leave out period products.
She astutely observes, “If both condoms and period products are considered necessities, why aren’t local convenience stores selling the latter online?”
Chinese Indie Band Fazi Find New Inspiration in the Liquid of Life
Fazi (法兹), a post-punk band based in the historical city of Xi’an, is making waves with their latest album Folding Story. An incredible display of the band’s musical mastery, one needs only to listen to the album’s opening track ‘Invisible Water’ to take stock of the member’s talent. Frontman Peng Liu dives into the song with yearning vocals while a pinging synthesizer and the universally familiar sound of water — an inspiration for the album — ripples in the background.
The band purposely travelled to the Northeast China port city of Dalian — famous for its stunning coastline and abundant seafood — to be close to their source of inspiration while recording.
During an interview with RADII following the album’s release, Peng describes the watery sound effect as the “artistic conception of amniotic fluid in the mother’s body.”
This liquid backdrop returns in the closing track ‘Way to Atman.’ In it, bassist Jiaxuan Li, guitarist Cheng Ma, drummer Boyang Li, and Peng create a mournful rhythm that conjures the image of a tide washing away a funeral pyre.
By strategically placing the sound of water at the start and end of the album, the band hopes that listeners will reflect upon “returning to the origin.”
“The whole album can be listened to on loop. And water runs through its entirety,” adds Peng.
Birth, life, and death might seem like heavy topics, but their universality ties in with Fazi’s aim to “write an album for everyone.” Peng explains that the lyrics in all 10 tracks tell the coming-of-age story of ‘the Protagonist,’ who is a composite of “ourselves, our friends, and ordinary people.” He adds that the songs delve into the Protagonist’s deepest emotions and heart.
🧐 Say what now? We're not making this up: That's really the title of 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' in Taiwan.
- Many Chinese netizens, who found the drama between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard petty, to begin with, were surprised that there even was a court case. “I thought this was a sitcom, but it turned out to be a legitimate trial,” reads one Weibo comment, which has been liked more than 1,000 times.
- Titled The Gold Standard, this new exhibition by NFT art marketplace SuperRare was launched in conjunction with AAPI Heritage Month.
- Inaugurated on April 29 and running through June 19, 2022, Metavision is Hong Kong’s most diverse NFT exhibition to date and houses the world’s biggest names in NFT art under one roof at K11 Musea.
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