She juxtaposes them. She paints a living landscape and a still life at the same time. They can be further interpreted as places or fixed scenarios. These are just some ways to look at the words and their larger implications. This is especially pertinent, since by using the words that she does, Tori relies on a set of fixed associations with those words.
Distance also figures into the equation of play in China .
Distance is the opposite of the aforementioned places or fixed scenarios. Therefore distance is in direct opposition of the title metaphor.