The film takes place in Manzhouli, a Chinese border town shaped by trade and spectacle. Once a key stop for my grandfather during his shuttle-trading days, the city now stands as a surreal landscape of oversized Matryoshka dolls, fiberglass mammoths, and reconstructed Russian landmarks.The “New Silk Road” trade gates mark an entry point to a shifting economy.

Moving through markets, hotel lobbies, and empty squares, I follow the traces of past exchanges—objects bought and sold, stories transported across borders. Layers of narration, archival footage, and on-site recordings capture a city that is both a transit zone and a surreal stage, where economic transactions merge seamlessly with layers of cultural display.

Set to a soundtrack by Paul Ebhart, the film explores production, circulation, and the evolving dynamics of trade and transaction. In this unpredictable zone where Russia meets China, the boundary is less a fixed line and more a hotbed of political and economic contestation. It is a dynamic crucible where competing ideologies, economic ambitions, and cultural identities merge and clash—a cultural exchange on acid that continuously reconfigures both economic realities and the shifting parameters of international exchange.