> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Shanghai's Skyscrapers in Mist
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/shanghais-skyscrapers-in-mist/
- Published: 2012-08-23T22:09:49.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:36:21.000Z
- Description: LOS ANGELES — I'm a sucker for skyscraper photos. Ever since I first set foot in downtown Los Angeles and then Manhattan, I've loved looking up at buildings. Tall ones, fancy ones — almost every major city has at least one interesting one, and in a place like China, there are more tall buildings tha
- Author: AX Mina
- Tags: Opinion, Shanghai, Skyscrapers, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:51 (2012, 2013, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/shangai-skyscrapers-above-the-clouds-jin-mao-tower-swfc-blackstation-6-e1345740931625.jpg)

Shanghai’s skyscrapers in the mist (all images courtesy Blackstation)

LOS ANGELES — I’m a sucker for skyscraper photos. Ever since I first set foot in downtown Los Angeles and then Manhattan, I’ve loved looking up at buildings. Tall ones, fancy ones — almost every major city has at least one interesting one, and in a place like China, there are more tall buildings than you can shake a level at.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/08/shangai-skyscrapers-above-the-clouds-jin-mao-tower-swfc-blackstation-1-e1345741099272.jpg)

A little while back [I came across the work](http://twistedsifter.com/2012/06/the-skywalkers-of-shanghai/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Shanghai-based photographer [Blackstation](http://www.black-station.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), aka Wang Dong. Wang, a graphic designer, took these stellar photos of some of Shanghai’s more iconic skyscrapers, each of them enveloped in mist. The two he’s focused on are the [Jin Mao Tower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin%5FMao%5FTower?ref=hyperallergic.com) (1,380 feet) and the [Shanghai World Financial Center](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai%5FWorld%5FFinancial%5FCenter?ref=hyperallergic.com) (1,614 feet), with glimpses of the iconic [Oriental Pearl Tower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental%5FPearl%5FTower?ref=hyperallergic.com).

While the photos themselves are not super innovative in terms of skyscraper photography, they show a city and country on the rise through its skyscrapers. The element of fog or mist captures the haze in which I often see Shanghai’s skyline, whether that be pollution or water droplets. It’s quickly becoming an iconic world skyline, and yet I rarely see it depicted outside of Chinese media. This will change, I think, with the [new James Bond film coming out](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VuegEogxaw&ref=hyperallergic.com), and as media empires like [Dreamworks build a home there](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/business/global/08iht-park08.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). But for now, we have photography.