The Portrait of a Mother

Under the framework of The Legend of Nüwa in the New Century, in 2025, we launched The Portrait of a Mother, a documentary theatre project developed through an open call and open to women aged 18–65 in Chengdu. Over several months of workshops, six women from diverse backgrounds co-created and performed stories drawn from their mothers’ lives and, where relevant, their own experiences of motherhood.

These stories reveal the structural gender inequalities faced by Chinese women, from limited autonomy in marriage and childbirth to the disproportionate emotional and social labor of motherhood, spanning generations born from the 1940s to the 2000s.

The project premiered at the third season of the Yulin Community Theater Festival as its first public iteration. Informed by audience responses and continued artistic research, the work then entered a second phase of development over three months, which was presented publicly in September, Chengdu.

The line below reads, “I believe my two daughters are no less capable than a son.”

This line was spoken by the mother of PL, who is a participant and performer in the documentary theatre project. PL was born and raised in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China, where son preference remains a deeply rooted social norm even today.

In the performance, PL presents her mother’s experience of family-arranged marriage, her later pursuit of an independently chosen relationship, and the challenges she faced while raising two daughters under sustained familial pressure. Through this account, the project addresses structural gender inequality and the unequal expectations placed on women in relation to marriage and motherhood, striking a chord with many audience members.