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Published: September 6th 2009
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Xintiandi
Enjoying the day in the very lovely and pricey rebuilt Shikumen district. Since coming to Shanghai, John and I have been talking a lot about city's souls. Last night we sat in my kitchen looking out the window of at the Shanghai nightscape, drinking Suntory's and trying to fathom the soul of Shanghai. To approach this city, one must begin geographically. Shanghai is a port city, and like all major port cities, revolves around a series of concepts- water, trade, money, foreigners, opportunity. These traits play a large role in the spirit of this place. There is money, trade, opportunity and foreign people in abundance. I would guess that approximately 75% of the city is under construction at any given time. When I look out from my balcony, I can see three skyscrapers going up. I have lived in my apartment for a little over a week, and they have already built and rebuilt the sidewalk in front of it 3 times. Vast stretches of the city have been demolished and rebuilt, and more are waiting to be demolished. Yesterday I visited a part of town that once was a rich neighborhood full of traditional Shikumen houses, then occupied by poor Chinese families, then torn down, and rebuilt as traditional Shikumen houses in
Old Town
Communist propaganda poster shopping in the tourist market in the old town. which there are many boutiques and nice restaurants and cafes at which I cannot afford anything- and neither can any typical Chinese person, especially those that lived in the houses before they were torn down. There is a constant feeling of movement and energy here, even in the parts that are sure to be demolished soon.
Yet, despite this, the city is still surprisingly approachable and human. Every morning, all across the city- hundreds of thousands of little Chinese grammies meet in parks to do their morning excersice and sing routine. It usually consists of them standing in a semi circle and waving their arms above their heads. In the afternoons, parks and squares are full of people flying kites, playing with kids, etc. In the evenings the grammies come out again to do a variety of things. The other night when I went to get dinner, I passed about 300 grammies doing a line dance to a Chinese/country song. Two blocks away another group of them were doing some sort of fan dance and twirling in a circle. Nearer to the big park I live by- Zhongshan park, a couple of thousand people were participating in another nightly
Old Town
Pretty tea house on the water in the old town. activity I have witnessed alot of... ballroom dancing. People gather around someone with a loud speaker, and dance to all sorts of music. It seems they prefer the tango, the waltz and salsa- but Ive seen a few others as well. It is extremely surprising to be walking down the street, and suddenly come across thousands of people ballroom dancing in the park, with great skill and enjoyment. An old man asked me to dance, but I declined due to the fact that I can't dance, and every single Chinese person would be staring at me.
Other notes and observations of the city:
Walking down the street in this city is less of a means of transportation and more of a Xtreme sport. Daily I leap over streams, hop from rock to rock, climb small hills, balance on small remaining slivers of sidewalk and beams, etc. All the while avoiding the traffic, which I as a pedestrian, am a bottom dweller.. a position I share with dogs, stray cats, and my fellow pedestrians. We must dart and run from bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws, cars and buses. I have learned that if you can get a big
enough group of pedestrians together, you can stop almost anything coming at you.... except a city bus, which are unstoppable.
Chinese people do not go out to bars at night. If you visit the city and are at a bar- you will notice that every single person there is white (with a few exceptions.. but chances are they are also foreign). John visited a Chinese disco a few nights ago and reported seeing quite a few Chinese people, but I did not go and therefore am unconvinced. The reasons for this are clear- bars in Shanghai are inhumanely expensive. For US prices, they are pretty regular- $4-6 beer, $7-10 cocktail, etc.. but in a city where a water bill for a month for an apartment with 5 people is $3- this is insanity. Therefore, only foreigners can afford to go to bars and clubs. Well, some foreigners... not my variety of foreigner. For us there are noodle stands where one can buy a heap of noodles, a beer, and a place to sit for $1. =)
There is no delivery Chinese food in China. I am pleased to announce, however, that McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Burger King
Fudan University
Picture in front on the obligatory Mao statue on university campus. all have 24 hour delivery. I have never tried this, because they don't use cars to deliver the food, but electric bicycles... and the food arrives cold... and who wants cold french fries? There is Papa Johns here, but they do not deliver, because it's Chinese incarnation is a very nice and formal sit-down restaurant with waitresses, etc. I prefer vendor food to everything though, as its much more delicious and far cheaper.. (though a bit riskier)
It is astounding the amount of American and European products that are available here. I can choose from various brands of crunchy peanut butter, macaroni and cheese (including the delux Kraft version), Oreos, Snickers, Sun Chips, Coca Cola flavors.. you name it, they sell it in China. Even a french brand of breakfast cereal that John loved in Spain because it actually had chocolate syrup inside the cereal nuggets... The one thing that is impossible to find is an affordable stovetop espresso maker.. and actual coffee to put in it. All they have is instant coffee, which is far more depressing than I can say. Luckily there are probably more Starbucks in this city than the whole state of Texas- and cheap
John, Marx and Ingalls
Hanging out in the French Concession... I think the statue was added after the French left.. Mc-Cafe coffee, so my suffering is minimal.
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