China's Dark City: Behind Chongqing's Crime Crackdown

AFP / Getty Images

Crime wave
Police hustling a group of defendants into court during the height of the crackdown

There may be good places to die in China, but Edinburgh isn't one of them. This housing development on the outskirts of the city of Chongqing bears only passing resemblance to its Scottish namesake. Just over a decade old, the brick and gray stone façades already bear the dilapidated look of abandoned manors. Outside the gates is a broad expanse of demolished homes, populated by the homeless sleeping under tarps. A group of "stick-stick" men, who grind out meager livings hauling goods on bamboo poles balanced on their shoulders, sit playing cards. Smoke from a bonfire of garbage mixes...

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