“Luo hóng”, meaning “seeing virgin blood” in Chinese, is an obscure way to describe a woman bleeding from her first sexual intercourse. In ancient China’s marriage culture, “luò hóng” represents female’s chastity and the value recognition of women to their potential husbands. The bride and the groom would spread a white sheet on their wedding night, and when “luò hóng” occurs, the husband would keep the blood stained sheet and show it to relatives and guests. That it is the evidence of their wives virginity. If a woman does not have “luò hóng”, they are considered as not chaste, ranging from being ridiculed to heavy punishment.
Today, sexual attitudes in China gradually open and inspection of female chastity is no longer a critical ritual. Although the men do not expect or measure a woman’s value through “luò hóng", there is still a lingering obsession over virgin women, and this has evolved into an universal and evasive cultural appearance. Thus this cultural appearance is interpreted as people do not directly exclude non-virgin women like a old way in the wedding night, but people cannot cover up their joy and satisfaction when the “luò hóng” appears.
Using symbolism, exaggerated stage manifestations, and restoring a scene of people seeing “luò hóng” on a wedding night, the artist recreates a moment of blood and ecstasy revolving around the phenomenon to metaphor the patrilineal male supremacy concept behind that, which is still hidden in the relations between the sexes in today's China.
