[seanmcdirmid]

These are part of the same apartment complexes, which are like gated planned communities in the states, except with apartment buildings rather than houses. In Beijing, most housing outside of the 3rd ring is like that...heck, even inside the 3rd ring, you'll see a lot of communities, just with lower height buildings because they were built much earlier.

[dmoy]

Not just beijing, but other big northern cities as well. Hell even "small" cities. River fronts along songhua on all the cities around there have >>30 story apartment complexes with like 5-20 identical buildings each. One of them uses giant lights to make a sort of pixelated movie screen at night, which only passably works cus the buildings are all the same and run by the same complex.

Very much not just a southern thing.

[seanmcdirmid]

Ya, I should have mentioned that this happens throughout china, and probably much of Asia as well.

[reaperducer]

I've seen it in Korea, and occasionally in Singapore. Though usually each building is painted a different pastel shade to tell them apart.