Mindbending video shows the struggle to find ground floor of multilevel Chinese megacity

At a time when many cities are indistinguishable concrete jungles, a few like Chongqing, China, stand out for their wild, mind-bending urban planning. Resident Jackson Lu (@journeyofjackson) recently took TikTok viewers on a tour of his apartment building, an 18-story structure with no elevator. In a video that went viral, racking up over 34 million views in just a day, he revealed that while his apartment building technically has a “ground floor” on the 12th story, residents below it have to climb up just to reach sunlight.

Chongqing’s geography creates a landscape that feels lifted straight out of a sci-fi film like Inception. The city’s architecture is both astounding and surreal, with its rivers flowing at higher elevations than many streets and buses cruising at the height of small airplanes. On his daily commute, Jackson navigates twisty lanes, hovering freeways, and corridors that weave in and out of buildings in ways that make even locals feel dizzy. In the video, he captures scenes of trains snaking through apartment complexes, subway entrances resembling fallout shelters, and even his office’s “ground floor”—a dizzying 22 stories up. A bus ride, which seems like it might offer a break from the madness, only takes Jackson higher, moving 20 stories above ground, along yet another path suspended in mid-air.

The video left people gobsmacked and some of them were almost horrified. “Does Google Maps work here? Do any maps work here? How do maps work here,” asked @amydanielleg, while @xoxaume commented, “It looks so dystopian but so cool at the same time that I haven't decided if I hate it or love it.” @thegreatshinobi_ added, “What a futuristic but not so futuristic looking city. I'd die from anxiety with those heights alone!”

Speaking to Architectural Digest, Jackson said, “People can’t wrap their heads around the directions, space, and ground floor.” Describing why the metropolis has such a surreal architecture, he said, “The city served as the wartime capital during World War II, after, the population got denser, and we needed to urbanize,” and added, “We utilize vertical space just like Hong Kong.”

In another viral TikTok, Jackson says, “In Chongqing, we never really know what floor we’re on, and we love putting things in the strangest places.” Hosting more than 100 skyscrapers, Chongqing’s urban space is a brilliant example of how vertical space can be utilized and how buildings can be stacked together. But when it comes to perspective, the maze-like city surely leaves commuters bewildered. “This city was probably built by a bunch of drunk civil engineers at the after-party,” he adds in a comment.

You can follow Jackson Lu on TikTok to see more architectural quirks of Chongqing city!