Multi Entry is a collection of essays, photos, and other media about the creative culture of mainland China, scattered all over the internet and occasionally the physical world.
Multi Entry is named after the Multiple Entry visa; since 2014, US citizens can now obtain a 10-year multiple entry visa to China (and vice versa). This new agreement has made it easier than ever to visit China frequently, but simply going there isn’t the same as really getting to see it.
As a set of lenses to view China through, Multi Entry strives to tells stories that:
- respectfully center the experiences of Chinese people
- reject arbitrary Eurocentric cultural values
- appreciate the vernacular and the low-brow
- never use Engrish as the butt of a joke
SEASON 1
The first season of Multi Entry is based on two trips to China in 2015—a 3 week trip to Guizhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou in March, and a two month trip (Sept-Nov) to Xiamen, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, and Shanghai. This second trip was funded in part on Kickstarter by 236 backers.
Season 1’s output includes:
- written pieces published in outlets like BoingBoing Offworld and Lucky Peach, as well as self-published on Medium and Tumblr.
- a set of ten prints that introduces the wordplay found in Chinese slang, with Shenzhen-based illustrator xMushroomx
- a physical zine including essays, guides, and photography around the theme Zhuang B, the Chinese word for posing
- stickers, care packages both physical and digital, and other stuff I haven't documented yet!
ABOUT ME
Hi! I'm Christina Xu. I'm an ethnographer and writer living in Brooklyn who spends too much time on Twitter. I was born in Fuzhou, Fujian in southeastern China, and moved to the midwestern United States at age 7. Like many other first-generation immigrants, I often wonder how my life would have turned out if we hadn’t left.
During my last few visits to China, I started sharing my observations about emerging behavior and creative culture online. I was surprised by how enthusiastically these were received, especially by other Chinese-Americans who craved a fresh perspective on Chinese culture, and this eventually led to the decision to create Multi Entry.
Outside of Multi Entry, I teach at the Interaction Design program of the School for Visual Arts and work on human-centered research projects for companies looking to better understand their customers and audiences. I do my best work out of Orbital in the Lower East Side.