How China Is Changing Your Internet

In China, what was once known as the land of cheap rip-offs may now offer a glimpse of the future—and American tech companies are taking notice. Walled off from American apps like Facebook, China’s homegrown apps like WeChat have been combining e-commerce and real-world services in ways that have Western companies playing catch-up.

Now with over 700 million users, WeChat can be used for almost everything like paying bills, hailing a taxi, booking a doctor’s appointment, sharing photos and chat.

In an increasingly digital world, visualizing the Internet and its powerful relationship to the real world has become a challenge to all storytellers from newspapers to Hollywood. This project combines motion graphics, vfx, sound design and cinematography—with a sense of humor—to explore the relationships WeChat currently offers Chinese users, and may offer Western users in the future. This is an exploration of storytelling with an important message: technology may come with a price.