Disney’s new Pixar film, Turning Red, follows Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old living in Toronto, Canada. She’s an average teenager contending with all the things girls her age do (boys, friends, school). However, she has the added pressure of making her strict and overprotective mother.
Family is particularly important to the Lees, who run a temple (祠堂 ci tang in Chinese) dedicated to their ancestor, Sun Yee, who is said to have had a mystic connection to red pandas. As it turns out, this connection is much more literal than is touted to visitors to the temple. In fact, every woman in the family is cursed to become a giant red panda as they come of age – a blessing that now is viewed as curse.
