Chinaworld by Sylvain Besson, journalist.

It is still early when the first notes of the March of the Volunteers ring out in Times Square: "Stand up, people who no longer want to be slaves...". Jason, Chinese name Junfeng, raises his head to one of the giant screens that dominate the square. On July 1, the party's anniversary, the image of the CCTV's star presenter appears in enormous size above the passers-by. Behind him, the bright rooftops of the Forbidden City with a flight of white doves and the words in gold letters: "Party day is the day of world peace."

Beneath his mask of synthetic fabric, Jason suppresses a giggle. He's racked up a lot of good points for social behaviour in recent months, and to make fun of the slogan of China's Communist Party, even one as meek as this one, would be the last thing he'd do. Facial recognition cameras are everywhere. They can detect a smothered insult behind a mask, a moment of annoyance, an air of grief. On your smartphone, you soon receive a notification from a chatbot on the Central Control System: How are you today? Are you upset? Did you dislike this slogan? Nothing bad in itself, but it's best to avoid these kinds of conversations, because you never know where they might lead.

Jason/Junfeng is rushing the pace. Getting to the no-go zone in lower Manhattan has become a challenge since rising water levels drowned out the subway lines south of 25th Street. This slow cataclysm is not over yet, as the sea that rises continually pushes the city's inhabitable limit northward, nibbling the avenues, gnawing away at the foundations of buildings and dotting New York with useless monuments.

From Time Square, Jason walks past the cyclopean block of Grand Central, which has become a ghost since the sea drowned the rail tunnels leading to Long Island. As he crosses Fifth Avenue, in the string of skyscrapers leading north, he sees the black and golden reflections of the Trump Tower. Empty too, weakened by the water seeping underground, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site - a fine gesture, granted by Beijing at the request of the Trump family.

Like all New Yorkers, Jason knows the cursed legend that surrounds this pretentious and old-fashioned building. As a child, he heard his parents talk about the first Trump president, Donald. An evil buffoon, at least that's how they described him. His chaotic re-election in 2020 had paved the way for the interminable period of unrest that had condemned America to decline. Ironically, Trump had been re-elected on the basis of his anti-Chinese slogans - while Beijing had secretly supported him, first him, then his children Ivanka and Barron, thus installing a dynasty in the White House that was as incompetent as it was docile.