Quick Facts:
The pictures uploaded online were taken in the Lujiazui Financial Center area of ??Shanghai. This area has tidal periods with uneven flow of people during working days. The empty city street scene taken at a single point in time is completely unrepresentative, and the term "ghost town" is misleading with ulterior motives. The quarterly report released by the Shanghai Transportation Command Center in August showed that in the second quarter of 2023, the average daily passenger flow of rail transit on weekdays was 11.62 million. In the ranking of outbound passenger flow during the morning peak period from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Lujiazui Station ranks first.
The Paper’s on-site visit found that:
The Starbucks store in the first picture posted online is almost full during lunchtime on weekdays, and the shopping mall restaurant where it is located It is also quite popular; the second picture was taken from the overpass of the Lujiazui Ring Road. The flow of people in the evening is obviously more than during the day; the third picture was taken from the Yincheng Middle Road ramp of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel in Pudong. The entrance to the ramp is in normal condition. The closed state affected the traffic flow of the one-way lane in the same direction to a certain extent, but vehicles passed through the lane normally at different times.
Event background
On September 5, The US "Newsweek" published an article titled "Shanghai, China, has become a 'ghost town'? The article "What do the photos show?" quoted three still photos taken in Lujiazui, Shanghai, posted on the 4th by users of social platform It's a Monday, a normal working day, and it feels like a Sunday morning in Germany, very quiet, with very little traffic on the road." This statement was forwarded by many netizens, with more than 1.5 million views.
And Under this tweet, some netizens commented that there was no barista in the coffee shop (Starbucks in the picture), so this was taken when the store was not open. Some netizens also posted photos of the scene in busy areas such as the Bund and Huaihai Middle Road in Shanghai.
Some netizens joked: “Is it possible that this was (taken) at four in the morning? "I wish (there were fewer people) this was true!" "In this regard, the "Newsweek" article seemed to list a number of netizens' doubts about Shanghai's "ghost city" in a balanced manner, but it still turned around at the end of the article and threw out negative doubts about China's economy.
Since the photos uploaded online did not indicate the specific time period when they were taken, and the picture parameters were also erased and cannot be viewed, "The Paper Mingcha" was unable to accurately find out the shooting time of these three photos. In order to find out the truth , on September 8, a similarly ordinary working day, inspectors from "The Paper" came to the location where these three photos were taken and conducted on-site visits to see that Shanghai, with a population of nearly 25 million, had turned into a "ghost town." How did this unreasonable statement come about?
Mingcha
Where is the Starbucks store in the picture posted online?
First of all, "The Paper". "Mingcha" tried to find the "Starbucks" in the picture.
Based on preliminary speculations such as the iconic Oriental Pearl Tower in the three pictures, this Starbucks store with several small steps at the door should be located in Pudong New Area, Shanghai Near Lujiazui. "The Paper" then searched the environmental photos of Starbucks stores in the area one by one and found that they were consistent with the ground floor facade of Starbucks (Lanhai International Plaza Store).
Above: Pictures posted online. . Next: A live picture of the Starbucks branch in Lanhai International Plaza on the morning of September 8.
The more recognizable store design, door steps, floor tiles, and elevator images reflected in the windows are all in the pictures posted online. It corresponds one-to-one with the environment map of Starbucks (Lanhai International Plaza Store).
This Starbucks store next to the Shanghai World Financial Center has two floors: "Pengpai Mingcha" on the 8th. At noon, I saw that the store was almost full. At the same time, many restaurants in Lanhai International Shopping Mall, which can be entered by turning right from Starbucks, were also crowded with customers at noon on the 8th. From 1:00 p.m. to 1 p.m., the video screenshot taken by "The Paper Mingcha" inspectors in the Starbucks (Lanhai International Plaza Store) shows that the store is almost full. At the same time, the customer flow at the entrance of a restaurant in Lanhai International Mall is shown. (Lanhai International Plaza Store) The clerk told The Paper that this store does experience low customer flow early in the morning on weekdays. However, the customer flow tends to increase around 12 noon and during the afternoon tea period.
Even during periods when customer traffic is low, customers can still be seen coming to the store to make purchases. Left: From 9 to 10 a.m. on the 8th, customers were already filling the Starbucks store, and many pedestrians could be seen outside the window. Right: From 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the 8th, many customers were already seated on the first floor of Starbucks.
The shooting location of the second picture reported online is located on the overpass of the Lujiazui Ring Road. The shooting point of the second picture posted online is not far from the above-mentioned Starbucks store. You can go up the stairs from the escalator at the entrance of Starbucks and walk straight west along the overpass of Lujiazui Ring Road for about 100 meters to get there.
The security guard at the entrance of the International Financial Center near the corridor told The Paper that the flow of people on the bridge overpass in the morning on weekdays is less than in the evening. There is an exit of Lujiazui Subway Station near the corridor. Some workers from nearby units may choose to enter the office in the business building directly from the subway station, and the overpass is not a must.
Photos of the flow of people on the overpass and zebra crossings under the bridge taken by "The Paper Mingcha" inspectors at 12 noon on September 8 near the shooting point of the online picture (the red arrow indicates the shooting point of the online picture Bit).
At around 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the 8th, when the "Pengpai Mingcha" inspectors took Metro Line 14 and arrived at Lujiazui Subway Station, the carriage was already packed.
According to the article "Quarterly Report 2023 Shanghai Transportation Operation Second Quarter Report (Rail Transit)" released on August 2 this year by the official WeChat account of the "Shanghai Transportation Command Center": In the second quarter of 2023, work The average daily rail transit passenger flow is 11.62 million. Among them, “stations with higher passenger flow rankings during the morning peak (8:00-10:00) are mainly traditional CBD area stations and industrial park stations”, and “Lujiazui station still maintains the first place”.
Of course, The Paper’s on-site visit found that the location where the online pictures were taken is about 800 meters away from the nearest subway station exit No. 8. The subway entrance is not directly connected to the overpass, so subway passengers are There is already a diversion before setting foot on the overpass. Some people working nearby also chose to go downstairs from the middle section of the overpass and walk on the zebra crossing under the bridge. One of the men told The Paper that it is cooler under the bridge during working hours (9 a.m. to 10 a.m.).
In addition, the overpass connects many large shopping malls including the International Financial Center and Lanhai International Plaza. During lunch breaks and evening peak hours, the overpass has seen a significant increase in the flow of people.
Left: Picture uploaded online. Right: Photos of the flow of people taken by inspectors from The Paper at 5 pm on September 8 at the same shooting point as the pictures uploaded online.
The subject of the third picture reported online is the Yincheng Middle Road ramp of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel in Pudong.
The third picture posted online was also taken on the overpass on the Lujiazui Ring Road. On the right side of the picture is the Yincheng Middle Road ramp of the East-West Yan'an East Road Tunnel. .
The Shanghai Municipal Government stated in a notice issued on December 19 last year that after the Pudong Avenue Tunnel Project is opened to traffic on December 23, 2022, the Yincheng Middle Road ramp entrance of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel in Pudong will be closed normally.
Live picture of the Yincheng Middle Road ramp entrance of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel in Pudong being closed on September 8
On the other hand, the third online picture shows that the one-way lane on the left side of the ramp is normal It is open, and at different times, you can see normal traffic on this lane.
On September 8, a live picture of the traffic flow at the location where the picture was taken was uploaded online. The picture on the left is from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and the picture on the right is from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
To sum up, although it is difficult to verify the specific shooting time of the photos posted by netizens on social platform Within, there is a tidal phenomenon with uneven flow of people. During regular lunch breaks and get off work hours, normal flow of people can be seen in Starbucks coffee shops, overpasses, and roads.
We have no way of knowing how the photographer managed to capture an empty street scene in a CBD area with the largest number of outbound passengers during the morning peak in a city with a population of nearly 25 million, but the well-established American news magazine "Newsweek" chose three completely unreasonable "empty mirrors" to look at the pictures without any judgment, and took the opportunity to make a negative evaluation of China's economy. It is not only unprofessional, but also raises a big question mark about its motives. In fact, the "China economic collapse theory" is not new and can be traced back to nearly half a century ago.
For decades, China has repeatedly "slapped" these empty arguments with its real economic development. Perhaps as one netizen said in reply to the original post, "Don't worry about Shanghai", the US media does not need to worry too much about China's economy.