Birthday cake was introduced to China in the late Qing Dynasty around the early 20th century. As a symbol of Western culture and commodity economy, its popularity is closely related to the political climate of the modern and contemporary era. Inspired by food anthropology, this essayistic archive film investigates the spread and localization of birthday cakes and their associated rituals in modern China and Chinese communities worldwide. It also examines the critical influence of birthday party services provided by KFC and McDonald’s, which entered China after the economic reforms of the 1980s. The investigation covers newspaper, news, films, family archives and Chinese-style cake decoration tutorial.

生日蛋糕在清末傳入中國，作為西方文化與商品經濟的象徵符號，它的流行與近現代的政治氣候緊密相關。受飲食人類學的啓發，影片從創作者的童年生日場景出發，以檔案式論文式的方式針對中式生日蛋糕、肯德基麥當勞生日聚會服務、冷戰落幕等因素進行探究。嘗試釐清生日蛋糕及其配套儀式在近代中國以及華人社會的傳播與本土化。調查範圍涵蓋近現代報紙檔案、新聞、電影、家庭檔案、華人蛋糕食譜等。

Shengjia Zhang (b.1997, Shenzhen) is a multimedia artist and filmmaker from Guangdong, China. He holds an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins (UK), where he received the Dean’s Award as well as support from the Mona Hatoum Bursary and the Turing Scheme. His work is part of the permanent collection of the Central Saint Martins Museum. He completed his undergraduate studies in Interior Architecture at Shenzhen University, where his architectural design was awarded the Asian Design Award. Inspired by cultural anthropology, his practice delves into minor social histories and cultural hybridity, intertwined with everyday objects and concepts, through collecting and investigating relevant marginal archives.

As the winner of the MaritimeGD Young Director Support Program (China, 2025), Zhang was also nominated for the LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Award (UK, 2025), the Silver Dove Award at DOK Leipzig (Germany, 2024), the CIRFA Award for Bridging East and West (Italy, 2024), the Young Artist Prize at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art (China, 2024), and the Graduate Award at Lewisham Arthouse (UK, 2024). His work has also been presented at InScience Film Festival (Netherlands, 2025), SWCAC Art Center (China, 2024), Beijing International Short Film Festival (China, 2023), London Design Week (UK, 2022), LUX (UK, 2022), Biennale Internationale de Design Saint-Étienne (France, 2019), and the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (Mainland China/Hong Kong, 2019).