Chongqing may be known as China’s cyberpunk capital, but local photographer Tu Ximeng is on a mission to capture the city’s more authentic moments—those often lost in the glowing haze of its futuristic façade
Futuristic skyscrapers and lit-up bridges, trains that pass through the middle of apartment buildings, a cable car that loops 150 feet over the Yangtze River, and shopping warrens that zigzag up the city slopes. This is the imagery that has come to dominate popular depictions of the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, sprawling out from the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers, and home to 32 million people. Once China’s World War II capital, Chongqing is now a popular tourist destination and has earned a new reputation as “China’s Cyberpunk Capital.”
But photographer Tu Ximeng, a Chongqing native, is not a fan of the label.
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Below the Lights: Photographer Tu Ximeng on a Changing Chongqing is a story from our issue, “New Game.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine.
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