Much of Shi Yong’s practice centers on the composite image of an idealized Shanghai resident he conjured with the help of internet users who voted on the perfect look. The resulting image has featured in several photography-based and mixed-media works, exploring notions of consumerism and commoditization and their acceleration in modern China. For his well-known piece Made in China - Welcome to China (1999), Shi painted the image of the ideal Shanghaier on to plaster models of a businessman donning a Mao suit and waving, briefcase in hand. “In Shanghai, the addiction to changing the city’s superficial image at the supersonic speed is beyond imagination for non-local people,” Shi explains.