Four months ago, I moved to Shanghai, China. Probably the most interesting, volatile and energetic country I’ve ever experienced. It’s beautiful. Except, unfortunately, there’s still so much people don’t know. The outside world sees China as this big, vast country with no Facebook, no Google – but they operate fine. Censorship does exist, that’s undeniable, but it exists everywhere. It’s not limited to China. In the U.S., you see it every day. The media, the news – it’s all edited. Entertainment has surpassed actual information, so now we hear more about the Kardashians than the famine in North Korea.
I’m lucky; I guess. I have the best of both worlds. I can access Facebook, Snapchat, still connect myself to the rest of the world. But at the same time, I like the fact that when I exit the walls of my VPN, I can actually experience the city I’m in. No phone buzzing, no desperate messages, no stupid Snapchat notification from the boy I once liked – just the city.
Photography: Bella Farr
