Board game on gender discrimination makes waves in China

For example, when 20-year-old Li Zhihui attends the freshman induction ceremony, she overhears her male peers sitting behind her ranking her and other freshman girls according to their looks. What should she do?

Four choices are available for her. 1. Leave her seat and pretend she heard nothing. 2. Stand up to them. 3. Take out her vanity case to check her makeup. 4. Start ranking them according to their looks.

For every scenario, it's hard to make a choice as each option has its pros and cons, commented Li Jingyuan, whose view is being echoed by an increasing number of Chinese gamers.

"Indeed, the best choice doesn't exist in this game and the explanation of each option has made me uncomfortable," one commenter said under a recent promotional article published on the official WeChat account "wywss163".

"Many scenarios in the game reminded me of the book Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982. Like the book, I hope it can make more people aware of women's dilemmas," reads one post on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.

As the commenter alludes to, Li Zhihui's Survival Game is also being hailed by gamers as the board game version of the South Korean feminist novel Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, an international bestseller which follows a fictional female character from birth to motherhood to highlight the bias faced by modern women in the country.

"Even if a small number of people start to think about sexism because of my game, I think I've achieved my goal," said Gwon, who is currently working on another game geared toward promoting gender equality.