A cutting-edge documentary about Shanghai's 'underclass'; a group of millions made up of both impoverished local residents and migrant workers, who are all paying the ultimate price for the city's ongoing development programme in the lead-up to the 2010 World Expo. In an attempt to get the stories of those worst affected, the film journeys into the city's poverty-stricken backstreets, uncovering a way of life that could very soon be gone from the city forever. Among the many conflicts explored, we see a backstreet neighbourhood ravaged by an incomplete construction project; migrant workers forced into the city's 'hidden' economy; and former state employees left jobless, and with limited future prospects. This is a Shanghai rarely seen in the West. This is a Shanghai from below the high rise.
—Anonymous