As a self-claimed “architecture junkie,” Marshall has been visiting and working in Shanghai since 2001 and his design footprint has spanned many cities in China: Nanjing, Hangzhou, Tianjin, and Chongqing... From his point of view, China’s reform and opening up is both amazing and unafraid. “Amazing for what has been accomplished. Unafraid, because in making policy, designing cities and managing a country, everybody makes mistakes. You just can’t help it. But after a mistake is made, it is fixed and improved. So I think that’s what I mean by unafraid: that there is a strong spirit to do things that have never been done before: high-speed trains, airports, super-tall buildings. I think in this century, maybe five buildings have been built over 500 meters and this is one of them… You could say courage is the desire to do something even though you have fear. But being unafraid is something completely different. Unafraid is having no fear. So that’s why I say amazing and unafraid.”

(Wishes for the ongoing process of reform and opening up from Marshall Strabala)

Story by Wu Qiong

Cameraman: Fan Yicheng