English Version
Before the First Intervention: Three Experimental Ideas
Before I officially launched my first intervention, I explored three different concepts. Each circled around the same core question:
How can interaction push stakeholders to rethink Chengdu’s cultural identity?
Eventually, I landed on the card game format, but the three experimental ideas I sketched out beforehand gave me important sparks of inspiration.
Idea One: Outsider Eyes – Moodboard of Misread Chengdu
In this scenario, participants would draw a “fictional outsider identity card” — for example: “You’re a fashion student from Milan who only knows Chengdu through Instagram and Reddit.”
They’d receive a package of materials: social media screenshots, tourist vlog clips, and AI-generated images. All of them carried a sense of distance, misreading, or surface-level impressions. The task was to build a moodboard and present it as though they were speaking in the voice of this outsider.
The twist came later: when participants returned to their real identities and looked back at these collages, they started to notice which images were merely the “outer coat” of Chengdu, and which held traces of its living warmth.
Takeaway: Chengdu’s identity is not fixed. It wavers in the tension between imagined Chengdu and lived Chengdu.
Yet, when I reflected on this idea, I realized something: whether the outsider is from the UK, Italy, France, or Spain, what they discover online about Chengdu is more or less the same. The regional or cultural perspectives don’t make much difference. That’s why I let this idea go.
Idea Two: Who Represents Chengdu? – The Identity Showdown Card Game
Here, I reimagined the classic card game. Instead of J, Q, K, A, the deck was filled with Chengdu’s cultural icons: hotpot, Shu embroidery, Taikoo Li fashionistas, drag shows, midnight barbecue stalls…
In each round, players had to argue: Which symbol is most often misunderstood? Which one best represents Chengdu’s local culture?
The act of playing cards became a battle of interpretations. For some, hotpot was the eternal emblem; for others, drag shows embodied the spirit of a “new Chengdu.”
Takeaway: Chengdu’s identity isn’t a fixed deck. It’s a game that never ends, defined by who plays the cards, who explains them, and who dares to challenge.
Idea Three: A Fake Day in Chengdu – Embodied Identity Play
This idea invited participants to draw a “fictional Chengdu identity card.” For example:
“A 22-year-old drag queen who found themselves at Bar No.9,”
or “A 60-year-old retiree who goes weekly to the foot massage parlor for relaxation, free snacks, and a movie while enjoying a massage.”
Participants would narrate and perform a day in this imagined life: where they woke up, what they had for lunch, how they spent the evening.
Through this “everyday theater,” Chengdu’s identity shifted from abstract symbols to embodied practices: eating hotpot, staying up late, chatting in a small bar. As these imagined lives were discussed, differences and contradictions surfaced.
Takeaway: Chengdu’s identity doesn’t lie in grand narratives, but in small gestures, habits, and rhythms of daily life.
But when I reflected, I saw a limitation: my stakeholders needed to be Chengdu locals who are curious and open to diverse experiences. If someone never goes to bars, they simply couldn’t imagine “finding themselves” there. This dependency made the idea less workable.
Reflection
These three ideas approached the problem from different angles:
- Shifted perspectives: Seeing Chengdu through an outsider’s eyes
- Symbolic contestation: Negotiating meanings through a deck of cultural cards
- Embodied performance: Living Chengdu through staged daily routines
Together, they showed me one thing: a city’s identity is never a single answer. It is a continuous negotiation and performance. Chengdu is both hotpot and pandas, but also nightclubs and drag shows; both tea houses for the elderly and the vlogs of the young.
In the end, I chose the card game format for my first intervention. It offered a playful atmosphere, sparked lively conversation, and revealed the very conflicts and tensions at the heart of cultural identity.
Chinese Version
在真正开展第一轮干预之前，我尝试设计了三套不同的方案。这些方案都围绕着一个核心问题：如何通过互动让 Stakeholders 重新思考成都的文化身份？
最终，我才确定了“卡牌游戏”的路径。但在到达这一决定之前，三个实验性的想法为我提供了重要的启发。
方案一：Outsider Eyes – Moodboard of Misread Chengdu
在这个设想中，我让参与者抽取一张“虚构局外人身份卡”，例如：“你是一名来自米兰的时尚学生，只通过 Instagram 和 Reddit 了解成都。”
他们会得到一个包含社交媒体截图、旅游 vlog 画面、AI 生成图像的素材包，这些素材带有“距离感”与“误读”。任务是用这些素材制作一张 moodboard，并在展示时以“外来者的口吻”解释他们的成都印象。
这一过程的转折点在于：当他们被迫舍弃亲身经验时，“成都”被重新拼贴成一个既熟悉又陌生的符号系统。而当他们再以真实身份回望这些拼贴时，才意识到哪些只是表面的“成都外衣”，哪些才是真正的“生活体温”。
启示：成都的身份并非稳固，而是在“想象成都”与“亲历成都”的张力中摇摆。
最后当我复盘这个设想时，通过互联网了解的成都，不管你是来自于英国、意大利、法国、西班牙或其它国家了解到的东西都差不多。并没有太大的来自地域、文化背景等视角的差异，因此我放弃了这个设想。
方案二：Who Represents Chengdu? – The Identity Showdown Card Game
我把传统扑克牌游戏改造成了“成都身份争夺战”。牌面不再是 JQKA，而是成都的文化符号：火锅、蜀绣、太古里潮人、Drag Show、午夜烧烤摊……
每一轮，参与者需要说明这张牌为什么：“最容易被误解的成都元素？”或 “最能代表成都的本土文化？”
参与者必须打出一张牌，并解释理由。出牌过程变成了一场语义上的角力：什么是核心？什么是边缘？有人坚持火锅是永恒符号，有人则主张 Drag Show 才是新成都的代表。
启示：成都身份不是一副固定的牌，而是一场永远进行的牌局。谁出牌、谁解释、谁挑战——身份就在争夺与博弈中生成。
方案三：A Fake Day in Chengdu – Embodied Identity Play
在这个方案中，参与者抽取一张“虚构成都人身份卡”：例如“22岁 Drag Queen，在 9 号酒吧找到真正的自己”，或“60 岁退休阿姨，每周一次去洗脚店放松身体吃上免费的食物再挑选自己爱看的电影。一边看电影一边享受按摩”。
他们必须以第一人称讲述并表演一日假生活：早晨在哪醒来、午餐吃什么、晚上如何度过。
这种“日常剧场”让成都身份从抽象的符号转化为身体的实践：吃火锅、熬夜、在小酒馆聊天。当不同身份在讨论中被认同或质疑时，差异与矛盾被暴露出来。
启示：成都的身份不是宏大叙事，而是藏在每一个小动作、小习惯和生活节奏里的身体实践。
同样当我在反思这个设想时，我的stakeholders必须是成都人，而且是乐于探索各种各样事物的成都人。例如，我的stakeholders他是从来不去酒吧，就不能设想在酒吧里找到真正的自己。因此我放弃了这个方案。
Reflection
这三个方案从不同维度切入：
- 视角错位：通过外来者的眼睛反观自己；
- 符号争夺：通过卡牌揭示共识与分歧；
- 身体演绎：通过虚构日常找到真实质感。
它们共同说明：城市身份不是一个答案，而是一场持续的协商与表演。 成都既是火锅与熊猫，也是夜店与 Drag Show；既是老年人的茶馆，也是年轻人的 vlog 背景。
最终，我选择了“卡牌游戏”的方案作为第一轮干预，因为它能在轻松氛围中引发对话，同时捕捉到文化认同中的冲突与张力。
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