During the 2023 Chinese New Year, I went back to China for a reunion with my family after almost four years apart due to Covid-19. Having lived in the United States for ten years, I became Americanized while my parents maintained their Chinese traditions, the good and the bad. The old fashion values they hold onto are incongruent with who I am now. "Breaking the Rock on the Chest" is a narrative series on overcoming the hardships with my family with a sense of soft sarcasm and humor. The action of rock-breaking on the chest is originally a Chinese folk street art of Hard Qigong that dates back to the Yellow Emperor era. I repurposed this art form to make light of the family trauma, and to start the process of healing the estranged relationship of cultural values and generational gaps with my family.
