China’s ‘fake socialite’: student who lived for free for art school project caught up in wealth inequality controversy
- Zou Yaqi spent 21 days in Beijing sleeping in the halls of extravagant hotels, trying on expensive jewellery and eating for free
- The student has been surprised by the criticism of the project but says it was not about wealth inequality, but about living off society’s excess
For 21 days in May, Beijing student Zou Yaqi lived for free; sleeping in the halls of extravagant hotels, trying on jade bracelets at auctions and working at an office in Ikea.
This exercise was no scam, however, it was a project for the student who was graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. She recorded her experience on video, which was placed on display in June at the academy. In September, she published a few short clips from the project on Weibo. But she was not prepared for the controversy that followed.
In the Weibo clips, Zou showed herself eating free sample snacks at malls, sleeping on fancy couches and trying on expensive clothes.
She had chosen places she felt were relatively safe, such as hotel lobbies and the Haidilao restaurant chain, and to look the part she wore fancy clothes, a fake ring and a fake Hermes bag.
She wrote on Weibo that the project had stemmed from her long-standing interest in whether a person could live on the “excessive material” produced by society.
