Inside Shipai Village — Guangzhou’s Hidden “City of Darkness”

At the heart of Guangzhou, one of China’s most modern cities, lies a hidden world — Shipai Village. Just steps away from luxury malls and skyscrapers, this tiny 0.73 km² maze houses over 100,000 residents.

Once a rural village, Shipai became a vertical labyrinth of “handshake buildings” — where walls almost touch and sunlight barely reaches the ground. It’s often called the modern-day Kowloon Walled City for its density, chaos, and raw humanity.

In this video, I explore Shipai’s narrow alleys, neon-lit signs, and everyday life inside this urban village — a place where migrant workers chase their dreams, and native villagers collect annual dividends from their rental empire.

Soon, this neighborhood will disappear due to redevelopment — but its story captures a unique moment in China’s urban history.