The Bund, 2025
- Nov 30, 2025
- 2 min read
The Bund is a three-channel video work set against the backdrop of the Bund in Shanghai. Located at the center of Shanghai, one of China’s largest economic centers, the area is densely packed with high-rise buildings that symbolize the country’s rapid economic growth. The towering skyline and the constant flow of people evoke the dazzling view of Hong Kong Island as seen from Kowloon before the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests.
Historically, the Bund was a site of foreign concessions established by Western powers and the Japanese Empire. These concessions—extraterritorial enclaves created by imperial nations—stand as symbols of modern imperialism and colonialism. Korea shares a similar historical context, as cities such as Busan, Masan, Incheon, among others, once hosted concessions controlled by Japan and other foreign powers. Traces of these concessions remain visible in the Bund today, including those of France, Britain, the United States, Italy, and Japan.
In 1937, the Bund became the site of three months of intense and brutal battles between China and the Japanese Empire, later known as the Battle of Shanghai. China’s defeat in this battle led to the Nanjing Massacre (1937–1938), during which indiscriminate violence and mass rape over six weeks resulted in an estimated 300,000 deaths, according to Chinese sources.
The three channels of The Bund present three spatial perspectives of the area: the northern zone, where key battle sites and the Japanese concession were located; the southern zone, where Western concessions stood and Chinese residents were denied access; and the eastern zone, now filled with high-rise buildings symbolizing contemporary China’s global power. These perspectives not only reference the three phases of the Battle of Shanghai but are also juxtaposed with the present-day image of China. Rather than depicting a vibrant urban spectacle, the work captures uncanny moments in which the city appears momentarily frozen, revealing the historical undercurrents beneath its identity as a global financial hub.
The Bund evoke the visual spectacle of Hong Kong Island. Following Hong Kong’s handover, the image of Hong Kong as a global economic hub has gradually shifted to Shanghai. Alongside this transition, significant political and economic changes have taken place, including the migration of intellectuals seeking to escape increasing control and censorship. The work suggests that the ways in which China governs certain regions echo forms of violence once imposed upon it by imperial powers. This dynamic extends beyond China, resonating with global hegemonic structures in which powerful nations, including the United States, exert influence through military and economic means.
The Bund moves beyond the representation of a specific cityscape to reveal the recurring structures of violence that shape the world we live in today.
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