China

On the edge of the border

In Gulouzixiang, in Kuandian Manchu Autonomous County, the border between China and North Korea is not just a line on a map. It is made up of scattered villages, hills, rivers and small stone houses. One of these is the abandoned house I explored: rough walls, tiled roof, broken windows looking out over the valley. […]

March 12, 2026
The State Guest Mansions

A few kilometres from Shenyang, in northeastern China, lies an abandoned complex that seems to come from another era. The project was conceived during the real estate boom of 2010, when the construction rush transformed vast areas of the country into permanent construction sites. In Shenyang, the giant Greenland Group purchased a large tract of […]

January 29, 2026
The Kingdom of Cats

I have explored many crazy places, but nothing could have prepared me for this. In China, not far from the centre of Beijing, there is an abandoned shopping mall ruled by a veritable feline monarchy. A place suspended between silence and surrealism, where cats seem to have taken control of the territory with the calmness […]

January 25, 2026
The Nine Dragons of Jiulongshan

Walking along a path overgrown with waist-high weeds, with the sun filtering through the low clouds over the hills of Zhejiang, I found myself face-to-face with them: nine reinforced concrete colossi, giant dragons twisting on the slopes as if the myth had taken shape in the 20th century. We are in Jiulongshan Scenic Area, near […]

January 16, 2026
The city of frogs

In the forest of steel and concrete that is Shanghai, urban fairy tales come to life at sunset. Location Qingpu Dongdu Frog City is situated a short distance from Dianshan Lake Avenue Station, Metro Line 17, in the heart of Shanghai’s Qingpu District. Night-time urban exploration I was staying with an artist from Zhujiajiao when, […]

January 13, 2026