Published 2026
 

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Dreaming Shanghai observes everyday life in China’s largest city, one of the world’s most densely populated urban environments. Through street portraits, the project focuses on small gestures that shape daily life within the fast pace of the city.

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Rather than focusing on skyscrapers or spectacle, the work looks at ordinary moments in public spaces. People search for food, scroll through their phones, rest between journeys, or drift into brief sleep after long working days. These quiet rituals reveal how people move through a city defined by speed, density, and constant activity.

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The glow of the mobile screen often creates a small private world inside shared places such as cafés, markets, and trains. Food, digital connection, work fatigue, and rest appear again and again, forming a simple rhythm of work, consumption, and recovery.

By noticing these still moments within crowded spaces, Dreaming Shanghai reflects on how people carry private lives while sharing the same city. The project suggests that urban life is sustained not only by ambition and productivity, but also by the everyday endurance of the people whose hard work keeps the city moving.

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Genre: Documentary

Captured: 2023-2026

Location: Shanghai, China

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