Aspiring

Buildings in Wanhua are dense and historically rather low (five, maybe six floors). Then and there you find these modern high rises. Seemingly trying to escape their surrounding, definitely not caring about it, they repel their neighbors back onto themselves with their reflective facades. Alas, their mirror tricks are once more mocking their surrounding; they are way too massive to be invisible.

Passing by they always feel brutal, alien invaders in a rough historic neighborhood.

Is it the sliver of green I wrote about yesterday that explains them? Maybe a Ballardian aspiration to escape average? Is it another form of corruption in a quarter known for its gangsters? Or is it just the contingency of building laws and the hope of families to find a home?