Playing with technology

Speaking about the play, an audience member said: "The show reminds me that the nanny cameras we use to express our love and care for the elders might sometimes turn out to be a ruthless invasion of their privacy." And the 48-year-old audience member after watching the play's debut performance on Sept 5, added: "We should lean more on face-to-face conversations than on interactions through electromagnetic waves."

He Qi, 27, a graduate of Chinese language and literature from Fudan University who later obtained her master's degree in drama and theater at a university in Taiwan, took inspiration from modern day smartphone and internet addiction to create her one-woman show for the festival.

The play, titled JPEG, portrays a member of an online community who gets extremely upset after being informed that the website that hosts the community will be shut down; an online dating app addict who sinks into a state of torpor in the face of an overwhelming number of flirty messages; and a divorced woman who tries to pretend that she's fine without her ex-husband on her WeChat Moments … each exposing the negative side of people's constant attachment to social media.

"Over recent years, social media and short-video-streaming apps have spread widely throughout the country. We are so accustomed to the existence of our smartphones that sometimes we don't know how to express ourselves without one," she explains. "Some of the stories in my play are based on my personal experience, as I do relate to the topic."

Man adds that we should look at technology-centered subjects dialectically and take the responsibility to discuss how the advancement of science and technology influences social structure and our humanity.

"We must be alert to any irresistible changes and delve into them, which will allow us to deliver a rational judgment or decision in face of such uncertainties in the future," he adds.