“Shanghai: Life in the Megacity” is a 24-minute video by Germany’s DW Documentary, offering a glimpse at the quality and pace of daily life in China’s most populated metropolis.
Beneath the breathtaking skyline of gleaming glass high rises and pulsating neon, 24 million residents work to raise their families, make ends meet, and find their foothold in an increasingly competitive environment.
The film is populated by a series of brief, but vivid personality portraits. A bicycle delivery man struggles to keep up with the booming online sales the city generates on a daily basis. A young starlet rehearses a routine in a theatre that was first constructed in the 1930s, and hopes to one day achieve international stardom. A family of three tours a private daycare as they discuss the burdens of rapidly rising costs of living.
In the past year in Shanghai, housing prices have increased by as much as a third. Many people who work in Shanghai cannot actually afford to make their home there.
This is a consequence of living in a trendy, modernized mecca of industry and recreation.
You can also read the film’s storyline here.
