Yana is a 24-year- old rural migrant who recently arrived in Chongqing to pursue her “Chinese Dream.” Drawn by the easy riches of China’s historic real estate boom, she opens a foreigner rental agency designed to help real estate developers market their new developments. This business takes a dubious turn as her foreigners are increasingly used in a surreal effort to turn remote ghost towns into “globalized cities” on the days that outside investors visit. When the inevitable happens and the real estate bubble starts to pop, Yana is forced to sell her company and reassess everything she ever believed in. Filmed over several years, Dream Empire is at once a gripping personal story and rare on-the- ground chronicle of one of the most critical economic issues of our time.