Development

My sixth doc short but it’s still a long road ahead.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFz1gqsf-SI?rel=0&w=600&h=338]
Today, a bridge is being built between Greater and Lesser Kinmen Islands. Tomorrow, Taiwan may find itself linked to the Chinese mainland.

What China is becoming was showcased in a row of exhibits. Why was I the only one looking at them?

Changzhou has recently been named one of 12 ghost cities in China, which is a rather unbecoming label for a city that has a 2,500 year history and 4.5 million people.

Can China’s few remaining historic communities continue existing in the face of rampant progress?

The ancient neighborhood of meandering alleyways and centuries-old grey brick homes that occupied this area for hundreds of years had already been demolished, cleared away –effectively erased from the slate of modern China. There was only one reminder that this ancient neighborhood ever existed at all, and that was the house I was standing in.

Paying a million dollars for an apartment in China is not a sure shot bet to avoid the tangled web of Chinese politics.