Imagined City is an interactive narrative game that examines the role of wedding ceremonies as a key arena for rural youth to pursue aesthetic aspirations and social recognition amid China’s urban–rural integration. Influenced by commercial wedding services and urban cultural models, many rural youths adopt “urban” wedding styles to construct an idealized modern identity. Yet, unequal access to cultural capital often leaves these aspirations partially realized, generating an aesthetic tension between proximity and distance. Through branching storylines and immersive gameplay, the project guides players from rural daily life into the unfolding of a commercial wedding, tracing shifts in form, taste, and meaning. It critically reveals the persistence of urban–rural taste divides while exploring the potential for cultural convergence, positioning the wedding as a layered site of negotiation between tradition and modernity.

More