Now as night falls on Pudong, east of the Huangpu River, stratospheric towers light up one by one in a dazzling display of garish neon, LED and shimmering screened images.

The most iconic newcomer to the skyline is the 128-story Shanghai Tower, which has become the world's second tallest building when it was completed this year.

This futuristic new skyscraper glows green, then purple, then yellow, then red as it curls to a height of more than 2,000 feet -- an exclamation mark on land that was swamp and farmland little more than two decades ago.

As Shanghai continues to spawn such science fiction-worthy architecture, it's no wonder that its present has come to double as the future in films such as the Academy Award winning "Her" and the Bruce Willis blockbuster "Looper."

Dave Tacon is a Walkley Award-winning photographer and writer based in Shanghai.