The enormity of China is often gauged by the grandiosity of its architecture: ‘great’ cannot even begin to describe the Great Wall, and the rampant construction of skyscrapers attests to the growth of an already staggering population. And then there are the sensational stories of China’s technological evolution, its wild goals of teleportation and lunar exploration, all demonstrating China’s ability to pump unsurpassable manpower into any endeavor to turn its ideas into reality.

Despite the insinuation of its name, “My Little Beijing,” a video developed by Pixcube Animation Studio, captures the vastness of China’s capital while also grounding the city as a specific place, a home to millions of people and their stories. Through tilt-shift photography, everything from scenic tourist destinations to small private rooftops and oft-concealed construction sites appear in miniature. While the architecture is stunning, the real magic is in trying to contemplate how so many people, cycles, flows and exchanges can co-exist in a single place.

My little Beijing from Pixcube Animation Studio on Vimeo.

by Kelly Chan

posted in Video

tagged beijing, china, cities, city, film, photography, tilt-shift, urban, urbanism, video

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