The melancholy of a taboo love affair provides the emotional framework of Yuhan Wang’s collection. Wang looked to the epic 22 hour long stage play ‘The Peony Pavilion,’ written by Tang Xianzu in 1598 and its 2001 filmic adaptation, as she began to explore the psychological mood of the season. The lead character, Cui Hua, a courtesan/songstress who marries into a noble household, and later falls in love with a female cousin in a culture that strictly forbade same sex relationships, roamed at large in the creative process.