Silent makers of the Chinese Dream

It was near midnight. I was walking back home after my seasonal fill of Sichuan hotpot at a neighboring restaurant when I heard a clanging sound in the air.

I looked up and saw two men handling the metal plates of an upcoming building in a part of Beijing that already had some skyscrapers. The men were possibly on a floor higher than the 20th. I spotted them by their bright helmets against a clear summer sky. In China, real estate never sleeps, I thought to myself.

That was in 2016. Now the building is much taller.