Although The Streets Of Shanghai,

are not exactly paved with gold,

there is plenty of it about, after Shanghai-based artist Yang Yexin threw away 1,000 grains of rice made of pure gold as part of a performance artwork to highlight current food waste, so start looking in trashcans, drains, grass, and in the Huangpu River,

the rice grains shown in the video were made from 500 grams of gold worth over 200,000 yuan, at today's rate £22,690.01 or $31,303.80, by a jewellery store that made them “in accordance with the actual size of each real rice grain.”

the performance art took place in Shanghai on October 13, and the video footage released by the artist quickly went viral, he did receive criticism on social media, but Yang Yexin insisted that his decision to throw away the 1,000 pure gold rice grains was justified, as the ludicrousness of it was by design, “One can hardly take the act of waste seriously until it is enlarged to an extreme level like this,” the artist explained. “Throwing away food is nothing short of discarding gold. Gold is part of the earth’s soil while throwing away cooked rice will pose a threat to our environment.” He also commented, “First of all, I think people love gold too much, so when I throw away the gold, everyone freaks out,” Yang added. “But if I were to throw away perfectly good food, hardly anyone would notice.” Also adding, “I think this kind of comment is very narrow and biased,” Yang said. “For example, when I donated 500 grams of gold or 200,000 yuan to a charity organization, I only helped the charity organization, and only produced 200,000 yuan of things, and the number of people I helped was limited. But if 500 grams of gold or 200,000 yuan is turned into a public event, how many people will it affect?” I imagine a lot of people will watch the video and try to follow his walk!