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Published: November 29th 2008
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The village
Some houses beside the canal The Local Village
The area of Shanghai that I live in is called Pudong, which is East of the river Huangpu, and this university campus is in one of the far outer suburbs. It’s an hours bus or taxi ride into the city proper, so that will give some perspective on how big this place is.
I live along JinHai Road, a six lane highway, which is full of factories, high rise apartments and amongst all this new development, a little of the old China remains.
Right beside the university is a delightful mix of what was once old Pudong, marsh land and vegetable and fruit growing. In this village there are high rises, gated and walled new apartment areas, traditional little dwellings and lots of market garden areas too, with most of the houses set up against the canals which provide water for the gardens and somewhere to throw your rubbish.
Children are seen rarely around the villages, with the older ones at school and just a sprinkling of younger ones around. Grandma and granddad’s job is to look after the little grandchild, as well as look after the house and cook and clean, while their grown
The village
Washing out to dry and air child and partner are at work. The small children are constantly being tended to, no dummies or pacifiers are to be seen, and no thumb sucking that I have seen at all. Children are constantly being held or amused or fed, and according to one of the local teachers, they become very spoiled. One local teacher started her child into child care/kindy at the age of 2 years, and she was horrified when I told her babies as young as one month were in care in Australia.
The one child policy is still law in the cities, but you are permitted to have 2 children if both you and your husband are single children.
Yesterday I had to have my foreigner’s health check, which is compulsory for all people who are working in China who are not Chinese nationals. As part of this one doctor asked me how many children I had, by holding up first one finger, shake of head, 2 fingers, shake of head, three fingers, nod, well the look of amazement on her face, I felt like an earth mother who had done something spectacular.
Many of the dwellings do not have heating so
The village
hang the washing anyplace you can creating as much warmth as possible during the day is essential to staying warm at night. Quilts from bedding are hung out to dry from the nights use on balconies, tree branches, special lines for high rises,anywhere there is a breeze and sunshine. This ensures that at least the bedding is warm and dry.
Part of the culture of China is to eat out. Food stalls are on every corner, with quick snacks, and hot meals to be had for small change. About 2-4 Yuan will buy you a bowl of noodles with veges and egg. Sweet potatoes cooked in a wood oven are really nice. You can buy peanuts in their shell as well as roasted chestnuts. There are yummy sweet treats such as fried little dough balls, little pikelets type things, honey and seed cakes. Delicious dumplings, fried bread with fillings, a crepe with savoury fillings, so much to choose from and with the weather cooler you know that health wise its quite ok to eat them, as the turn over for most of these vendors is huge.
Of course there are fruit and veges on every road side as well as trucks and carts loaded
The village
Rather palatial dwelling with other merchandise such as towels, belts, and numerous amounts of other goodies.
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