Reuters photographer Carlos Barria recently spent time in Shanghai, China, the fastest-growing city in the world. A week ago, he took this amazing shot, recreating the same framing and perspective as a photograph taken in 1987, showing what a difference 26 years can make. The setting is Shanghai's financial district of Pudong, dominated by the Oriental Pearl Tower at left, and the new 125-story Shanghai Tower, China's tallest building and the world's second tallest skyscraper, at 632 meters (2,073 ft) high, scheduled to finish by the end of 2014. Shanghai, the largest city by population in the world, has been growing at a rate of about 10 percent a year the past 20 years, and now is home to 23.5 million people -- nearly double what it was back in 1987. This entry is focused on this single photo pairing, with several ways to compare the two.
Via Cory Erlandson
It is amazing how quick a city can change in only 26 years. Since this picture was taken in 1987, the city's population has doubled, and is continuing to grow rapidly. Today, this city is one of the largest in the world and has magnificent skyscrapers, one of which is the second tallest in the world. It is obvious globalization hit this mega city very quickly, making it one of the most impressive cities in the world.
Buildings, skyscrapers and urbanization. Why not? This is how the world is and this is what attacks tourists. For Shanghai, they need to be up to par with all the other business and tech savvy countries and cities. This is how they are going to keep their technological business, by building what needs to be built.
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