I guess we can call this new Orientalism. Travel to China, find a few cities that are tailored to show China’s “achievement” in modernization and criticize the U.S. I was raised in this city. I lived in this city for 17 years. I basically walked every street that is shown in

these pictures. The price of making Chongqing look like that has been heavy taxes, inflation, governmental brutality, corruption. All at the expense of the locals. Yes, you don’t see homeless on the streets. But I used to see them in the late 90s and early 2000s. Where are they

now? You don’t want to know.

I understand it is a big ask for everyone in the west to know more about China’s hidden problems, but don’t simply buy into China’s propaganda just because you don’t like the US right now. China is not where you want to look for an alternative.