“Under post-imperial reform, male characters shifted from being sensitive and gentle, to being depicted as hyper-masculine and heteronormative, seducing European women, who, in contrast to Asian women, would be portrayed as independent and intelligent characters…In his research practice, Yang queers [these] narratives, changing its characters from Chinese men and European women into non-binary characters and non-human figures like electricity and gunpowder.” excerpt from an essay by Lucie Fortuin