CORRECTION: The photo is real, but the interpretation is wrong; this sunrise (or sunset, or whatever) is part of a loop of images from a tourism ad.
New York Times correspondent Edward Wong RTed this picture of a billboard in Beijing:
https://twitter.com/joneshen1992/status/423677786046623744
Yes, that’s a giant LED billboard displaying the sunrise — or maybe the sunset? Who can tell, since the smog is so bad it’s impossible to tell what time it is in real life.
We’ve previously reported about Hong Kong’s fake blue-sky backdrop for tourist photos, but Beijing has done them one better — the ersatz sunset glows just like the real thing, and if it’s video, as reported, you can even take fake tourist Vines and nobody will be the wiser! Just make sure to use a tight, tight zoom. Step back too far and it becomes clear that you’re in a dystopian air pollution nightmare.
