It's ridiculous. Newsweek in the United States used three pictures to describe Shanghai as a "ghost city"

Scanning

-The online image was taken in the Lujiazui Financial Center area in Shanghai, where there is an uneven tidal flow during weekdays. The vast urban street scenes captured at a single point in time are completely unrepresentative, and the notion of a "ghost city" is a misleading and ulterior motive.

-The quarterly report released by Shanghai Traffic Command Center in August shows that in the second quarter of 2023, the average daily passenger flow of rail transit on weekdays was 11.62 million. Lujiazui Station ranks first in the passenger flow ranking during the morning rush hour from 8 to 10 o'clock.

-During on-site visits by "Pengpai Mingcha", it was found that the Starbucks store in the first online rumored image is almost full during weekday lunchtime, and its shopping mall and catering stores are also quite popular; The second picture was taken on the corridor overpass of Lujiazui Ring Road, with significantly more foot traffic in the evening than during the day; The third picture is taken of the Yincheng Middle Road ramp of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel in Pudong. The entrance of the ramp is normally closed, which to some extent affects the one-way traffic flow in the same direction. However, vehicles on this lane pass through normally at different times.

Event background

On September 5th, Newsweek published an article titled "Shanghai, China Becomes a 'Ghost City'? What Does Photos Show", citing three static photos taken by social media platform X users in Lujiazui, Shanghai on September 4th. The original tweet stated, "Shanghai has now become a ghost city." Today is Monday, a normal working day, and it feels like a Sunday morning in Germany, very quiet with very little road traffic. ". This statement has been forwarded by many netizens, with over 1.5 million views.

Screenshot of Online Legend Method

Under this tweet, some netizens commented that there were no baristas in the coffee shop, so this was taken before the shop opened. Some netizens have also posted videos or photos of pedestrians weaving around in bustling areas such as the Bund and Huaihai Middle Road in Shanghai to refute this. Some netizens even joked, "Is it possible that it's 4 o'clock in the morning?" "I really hope it's true!" In response to this, the article in Newsweek seemingly balanced several netizens' doubts about Shanghai's "ghost city", but still at the end of the article, the pen changed and the article clich é d negative doubts about the Chinese economy.

Due to the online photos not specifying the specific time period during which they were taken, and the image parameters being erased and unable to be viewed, "Pengpai Mingcha" was unable to accurately determine the shooting time of these three photos. In order to find out the truth, on an equally ordinary working day on September 8th, "Pengpai Mingcha" inspectors visited the shooting location of these three photos and conducted on-site visits to see how the unreasonable claim that Shanghai, with a population of nearly 25 million, has become a "ghost city" came about.

Check clearly

Where is the Starbucks store located in the online image?

Firstly, "Pengpai Mingcha" attempts to find "Starbucks" in the picture.

According to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and other landmark buildings in the three pictures, the Starbucks store with several small steps at the door should be located near Lujiazui, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. "Pengpai Mingcha" then searched for the environmental photos of Starbucks stores in the area one by one and found that they matched the ground floor storefront of Starbucks.

Above: Image uploaded online.

Below: Live picture of Starbucks branch at Lanhai International Plaza on the morning of September 8th.

The recognizable storefront design, doorstep steps, floor tiles, and elevator images reflected from windows in online images can all correspond one-to-one with Starbucks' environmental images.

This Starbucks store, located adjacent to the Shanghai Global Financial Center, has two floors. At noon on the 8th, I saw that the store was almost full. At the same time, turning right from Starbucks leads to the Lan Hai International Shopping Mall, where many catering stores also have a dense flow of customers during noon hours.

From 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm on the 8th, the video screenshot taken by the "Pengpai Mingcha" inspector inside the Starbucks store showed that the store was almost full.

At the same time, the passenger flow at the entrance of a restaurant in Lanhai International Mall.

Starbucks staff told "Pengpai Mingcha" that this store does experience low foot traffic in the early morning of weekdays, but the foot traffic often increases around noon and during afternoon tea hours.

Even during periods of low customer traffic, customers can still be seen coming to the store to make purchases one after another.

Left: From 9am to 10am on the 8th, there were already customers in the Starbucks store, and many pedestrians could be seen outside the window.

Right: From 10:00 to 11:00 on the morning of the 8th, many customers have already taken seats on the first floor of Starbucks to make purchases.

The filming location of the second online image is on the corridor overpass of Lujiazui Ring Road.

The filming location of the second picture circulating online is not far from the Starbucks store mentioned above. You can go up the escalator at the entrance of Starbucks and walk west along the corridor overpass of Lujiazui Ring Road for about 100 meters to reach it.

The security personnel at the entrance of the Guojin Center near the corridor told "Pengpai Mingcha" that the pedestrian flow of the corridor overpass on weekdays is less in the morning than in the evening. There is an exit from the Lujiazui subway station near the corridor, and some nearby unit staff may choose to enter the office of the commercial building directly from the subway station. The overpass is not a necessary passage.

The inspector of "Pengpai Mingcha" took a photo of the pedestrian flow on the overpass and zebra crossing under the bridge near the online photo shooting location at 12:00 noon on September 8th.

Around 8-9 am on the 8th, when the "Pengpai Mingcha" inspector arrived at the Lujiazui subway station on Line 14 of the subway, the carriage was already full.

According to the article [Quarterly Report] 2023 Shanghai Transport Operation Second Quarter Report released by the official WeChat official account of the "Shanghai Traffic Command Center" on August 2 this year, the average daily passenger flow of rail transit in the second quarter of 2023 is 11.62 million person times. Among them, the stations with high passenger flow rankings during the morning rush hour are mainly located in traditional CBD areas and industrial park stations, while Lujiazui Station still maintains its top position.

Of course, during a field visit by "Pengpai Mingcha", it was found that the location where the pictures were taken online was about 800 meters away from the nearest subway station exit, Exit 8. The subway exit did not directly lead to the overpass, so subway passengers had already been diverted before stepping on the overpass. There are also people working nearby who choose to go downstairs from the middle section of the overpass and walk under the zebra crossing. One man told "Pengpai Mingcha" that it is cooler under the bridge during working hours.

In addition, the corridor overpass connects multiple large shopping malls, including the National Financial Center and the Lanhai International Plaza. During lunch breaks and peak hours in the evening, there has been a significant increase in pedestrian traffic on the overpass.

Left: Image uploaded online.

Right: The "Pengpai Mingcha" inspector took a photo of the pedestrian flow at the same shooting location as the one posted online at 5 pm on September 8th.

The third image posted online is taken at the entrance of the Yincheng Middle Road ramp of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel in Pudong.

The third image circulating online was also shot on this corridor overpass on the Lujiazui Ring Road. In the captured image, on the right side is the east-west ramp of the Yincheng Middle Road of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel.

The Shanghai Municipal Government issued a notice on December 19, 2022, stating that after the opening of the Pudong Avenue underpass project on December 23, 2022, the entrance to the Yincheng Middle Road ramp of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel in Pudong will be closed as usual.

Live view of the closure of the entrance to the Yincheng Middle Road ramp of the Yan'an East Road Tunnel in Pudong on September 8th

On the other hand, the one-way lane on the left side of the ramp in the third online transmission image is open normally, and vehicles can be seen passing through the lane normally at different times.

On September 8th, a live map of the traffic flow at the location where the photos were taken was posted online. The left image shows 10-11 am and the right image shows 5-6 pm.

In summary, although it is difficult to verify the specific shooting time of photos posted by netizens on social platform X through technical means, it was found through visits to the shooting locations that there is a tidal phenomenon of uneven foot traffic during normal working days. During regular lunch breaks and after work hours, normal pedestrian traffic can be seen in Starbucks coffee shops, as well as on corridors, overpasses, and roads.

We have no way of knowing how the photographer captured an empty street view in the CBD area with the highest morning rush hour passenger flow in a city with nearly 25 million people. However, the old American news magazine Newsweek indiscriminately chose three completely unreasonable "empty mirrors" to look at the pictures and speak out, taking the opportunity to cast a negative evaluation of the Chinese economy. Not only is it unprofessional, but its motivation is also a big question mark. In fact, the theory of China's economic collapse is not new and can be traced back to nearly half a century ago. For decades, China has repeatedly criticized these empty rhetoric with its down-to-earth economic development. Perhaps as a netizen replied to the original post, "Don't worry about Shanghai," and American media doesn't need to worry too much about the Chinese economy.