While top news stories have recently focused on tensions on the Korean Peninsula, things seem perfectly calm, or “unchanged” in Dandong, China’s biggest border city, neighboring the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. ‍

On the Chinese side of the Yalu River, new futuristic high-rise condo buildings seemingly voice the border town’s confidence in its future. “Most of them have been sold at a price of nearly 10,000 yuan per square meter,” one member of staff at the soon-to-be gated community told me after she approached me, asking why I was wandering around in a still mostly empty new residential area. 

This “optimistic” vibe quickly fades as I move my eyes toward the other side of the river. 

Houses of different shades of gray are my first impression of Siniuju, the DPRK town adjacent to China. Factories seem idle, with people spotted sporadically on the river bank. 

Through a telescope, I found the streets there surprisingly busy.  Sinuiju is the DPRK’s fourth largest city and a main gateway of trade between the country and the outside world. 

Standing by the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, I get a closer look at the other side. Cranes, a symbol of development at least for me, can be seen. 

Trucks, not big in number, move slowly along the bridge. Reportedly, 70 percent of the DPRK’s trade volume goes through here. 

The “Broken Bridge” stands in parallel with the friendship bridge, bombed by US aircraft decades ago during the Korean War. Memories may fade with time, with this wartime symbol now a tourist spot. Most of the tourists are in their 40s or 50s, snapping pictures with a smile on their faces or giving a “victory” gesture. 

“Positivity” is clear to see in Dandong. War for its residents seems to be nothing more than a passing memory, as people look at the current city of Dandong and the future that lies ahead of it.