Kusari

In a provincial Chinese city where traditional ideas about men and women still shape everyday life, several people confront expectations surrounding marriage, childbirth, and sexuality. The path society calls “normal” does not fit everyone, yet refusing it can mean losing family, status, or security.

Through these relationships and choices, the pressure of custom becomes visible when tradition turns into judgment over other people’s lives. Caught between the desire to belong and the need to live honestly, each person must decide which bonds truly support them and which have become chains.