dalian is a surprisingly modern city- good infrastructure, big buildings, and many things to do. wealth has definitely been flowing here. however, there are always moments and things here that are entirely out of place, as if two different worlds were coexisting at the same time. sometimes when i'm walking by louis vitton stores and hiltons here it's easy to forget that these are just facades, and that things behind them might not be exactly what they seem. as my friend reminded me, changes in culture and societal structure have not kept pace with the rapid building development.

but just last week, i visited a place in dalian where there are no facades to even speak of! it's essentially a huge demolition site where an entire neighborhood on the side of a hill was bull-dozed. why, i don't know, but it looks like a bomb was dropped here. as corny as it sounds, every time i ride past this place on the bus i feel a shiver run down my back. and a sense of awe that such a vast space of destruction exists amongst this cute "little" city. but then again, i have been to small developing cities in china that kind of look like this all around, perhaps it is a little reminder of the creation process.
once i finally summoned the courage to go in here (that yellow wall separates it from the street), it was just as creepy as i had imagined. it was like it's own little world within the bigger world around it looking on, probably feeling sorry for it haha.
there were some people there with big machines doing whatever needed to be done but there were also a few people wandering around like they were just taking a stroll through the neighborhood. i don't blame them for wanting to come here, besides the coastal sea road by my house, this is the most quiet place with the most space and least amount of people i've ever seen in dalian. plus, there are a lot of things to see there and i'm sure it changes everyday.
life still survives in this barren wasteland.

if i cleaned this one up in photoshop i think it would be a really cool picture. one thing i've learned in china is that even some of the ugliest things can have beauty with in them. you just have to look really closely ;)

am i still in dalian and if so is it still 2011? look at the first picture again- i took it from the edge of this site- this open road with the dilapidated house and the bustling city are so close to each other! what a strange place china can be, full of juxtapositions and surprises.

i think i finally realized why i can't be an architect...i think broken buildings are more interesting than built ones haha.