Construction sites are so common in China that most people pass them without a glance. At one point during the country’s multi-decade building boom, the joke was that the crane was the national bird.

But behind the hoardings’ cheerful messages of luxurious lifestyles and the “China Dream” is another, darker story: of how villages become slums, of the corruption and deceit involved as homes for the poor give way to high-rises for the wealthy, and of the loss to China’s culture when its ancient communities disappear forever.

David Bandurski, an independent writer living in Hong Kong, went behind the hoardings in the centre of Guangzhou (population: 13m) to track the fate of Xian village, a community that existed during the Song dynasty in the 13th century. By the time Bandurski first visited, it was no longer a recognisable village but a thriving migrant neighbourhood, the streets smelling of urine and lit by bare lightbulbs strung on shop fronts. In other words, the last place most people would look for Chinese traditions that date back eight centuries.