One thing you don’t see much of in Shanghai is hip-hop inspired street graffiti. As a massive urban centre, it’s quite an unusual scene compared to other big cities. That’s not to say there isn’t graffiti – I’ve seen slogans in Chinese characters and paintings on public walls but it seems to have a different motivation and influence than in western cities. Maybe someone who is more educated on such matters than me has an explanation or commentary, however.

That said, China has a history of expressing themselves through graffiti – Mao Zedong apparently holds the record for the longest piece of graffiti which contained 4000 characters to criticise Chinese society before the communist revolution.

These pictures below were taken on a recent trip to Hong Kong where it’s not unusual to see welcome and unwelcome street art and scribbles influenced from hip-hop culture.