The film having Xiaojun and Li Qiao
The film follows Xiaojun and Li Qiao, who are migrants from mainland China seeking better lives in the city of Hong Kong. As foreigners with few friends and acquaintances, they become friends in the city of Hong Kong, and gradually they fall in love. However, they are separated by their different ambitions as Li Qiao wants to pursue a business life while Xiaojun wants to earn money and marry his fiancé. Eventually, Li Qiao and Xiaojun reconnect in New York. Peter Chan, the film director, has a migratory experience having lived in Hong Kong, Thailand, and the USA. Chan uses his nomadic experience to guide the storyline and inform the themes of the film.
The film’s main characters are Li Qiao and Xiaojun. Li Qiao is a cunning, scheming, and pragmatic from South Mainland China. She aims to be a successful businesswoman in China. Xiajun, the male protagonist, contrasts Li Qiao. He is frugal, countrified, and idealistic from Northern China. His goal is to make enough money and then go back and marry his fiancé. The two main characters of the film exemplify the rural-urban binarism, which is a prominent theme in the movie. Li Qiao is from Southern China, which is relatively more urbanized than Northern China, which Xiaojun calls home. This is evident in the characters’ costumes. Li Qiao tries to dress modernly and in a manner that shows affluence. Xiao Jun, on the other hand, dresses simply, which shows his simple background and, indeed, simple ambitions in life. This, to an extent, explains the disparity in their beliefs and attitudes in Hong Kong as Xiaojun seems to have relatively smaller dreams than Li Qiao. He is also less savvy than Li Qiao in the ways of the city. This rural-urban dualism typified in their job preferences. While LI Qiao is a counter clerk and a recruiter for English students, which shows an inclination to shrewdness and professionalism, Xiaojun is content with being a chicken deliveryman. Even in the USA, he works at a Chinese restaurant, which shows a tendency to stay close to the culture and activities that he is familiar with.
The film also challenges the societal norms and expectations about gender. Chan’s film features a novel type of female character in Li Qiao, who is more driven, cunning, and ambitious than her male counterpart Xiao Jun. The film also highlights the economic factors that inhibit women. Li Qiao, in spite of her ambition, leaves Xiao Jun for Bao because Bao could provide financial security. She has to sacrifice her love for Xiao Jun to acquire financial security, which shows the inhibitory nature of a patriarchal society. This turn of events blunts the initial and refreshing message about female empowerment, and the movie returns to trite stereotypes about women having to cling on to men for financial independence.
The film also touches on the issue of capitalism. This is illustrated in the Hong Kong dream, where many Chinese mainlanders and other foreign immigrants such as Sir Jeremy who moved to Hong Kong to pursue better economic standards. The ATM in the film is a symbol of this capitalism and commercialism that influences the choices of the characters. Li Qiao, in particular, feels that the ATM is a symbol for her financial independence and self-affirmation. When her money is assimilated and decreases, she loses confidence and begins to feel unsure about the future.
The main theme of the film, however, is the experience of migrants. Li Qiao and Xiaojun are lost in Hong Kong and are preoccupied with pursuing their dreams and aspirations. It is in this loneliness that they find love, but the economic and cultural factors that significantly influence migrants’ lives do not allow them to pursue their feelings. Li Qiao’s ambitions of wealth and Xiaojun’s responsibility to his fiancé rips them apart. It also shows the general struggle of mainlanders to assimilate into Hong Kong.
The film was an interesting watch with a lot of messages that shed light on the lives of migrants around the world. It shows the rural-urban binary that is common in cities and how these influences shape the lives of people. The film does well in developing the characters and creating an experience that is relatable to everyone who has ever moved to a new place and grappled with the complicated nature of love.