China Love: Double Happiness

Just over 40 years ago, marriage in China was arranged by the state. Love was not on the table and happiness was secondary to politics. Wedding photography consisted of one black and white passport photo of the couple dressed in Mao-style outfits. But now China has fallen in love with romance. Chinese couples take part in lavish pre-wedding photoshoots where they become characters in a fantasy of their choosing. Double Happiness follows couples young and old as they prepare for the shoots which have become important national symbols for freedom, status, and the new Chinese Dream. Go inside this phenomeon, uncovering the pressures these expensive photoshoots place on couples and their familes, whilst exposing the shadowy, hundred-millon dollar international companies profitting off this new market. Double Happiness uncovers China’s new cultural expectations on marriage and modern love. For all the frivolity, marital pressure remains as strong as ever. If someone is not married by 28 years old, they can be labeled “leftover women” by the government, and their families face ostracisation. How has China moved so quickly from extreme restriction to bombastic forms of expression and ‘play’? And what about all the elderly couples who were denied this opportunity to express themselves?

Chinese couples take part in lavish pre-wedding photoshoots where they become characters in a fantasy of their choosing. China Love follows couples young and old as they prepare for the shoots which have become important national symbols for freedom, status, and the new Chinese Dream. Go inside this phenomeon, uncovering the pressures these expensive photoshoots place on couples and their familes

Cast: Pei Pei, Xuezhong