My vegetarian eyes wet at the sight of black and brown squirrels suffering from heat stroke, resting on their backsides with their limbs pointing toward the heavens. I studied them carefully for minutes, unable to come to a decision. Beside me, mesmerized young families voiced their desires to take the little creatures of varying furs home. Within them lacked what I had; they owned no fragment of concern about the unconscious animals.
I ventured onward through the maze-like and partially open...[read more]
How is that weather reports say it’s only 47% humidity when I feel like I’ve been sitting, walking and breathing in a steam room all day? The water fan combos situated at a number of al fresco restaurants blow steam at guests instead of doing what they’re supposed to do, COOL! Being one prone to perspiration, I have created a list of to-dos to keep sane.
First? Watermelons. Monica has written about the glorious fruit from fresh to juice, and I...[read more]
I tell my more gullible friends that on Sundays I race dragons because it makes me feel like the Atreyu of Shanghai. (“Call my name, Bastian! Please! Save us!”). Sigh. But what I really mean is that for the past few weeks my Sunday mornings have seen me peeling myself away from my womb-like bed at the crack of dawn to spend the morning in a hard wooden boat trying to co-ordinate my paddle with 20 other people...[read more]
Relishing the upcoming reprieve from work - despite the unfortunate seven straight days of work in consequence - it feels like a moment for a little storybook time about why we should all be riding dragons down the neighborhood river and stuffing our faces with filling bundles of zongzi.
As with all myths, there are many supposed reasons why we race dragon boats every year on the fifth month of the fifth day of the lunar calendar. The most popular myth...[read more]
You never forget your first time. That wash of vulnerable trepidation as you attempt something important for the very first time; a landmark life experience from which so many more will follow. Your first time away from home. Your first driving lesson, with your dad in an old car he'd bought specially, as you bunny hopped your way through a mowed-in-the-grass pretend crossroads in the field next to your house. The first time you locked lips with a member of...[read more]
My solo reply in kind was to butcher the seminal 1996 hit ‘2 Become 1' by The Spice Girls, a ‘slow ballad focusing on how the bonding of two lovers can become so strong that they practically become one entity, through the act of sexual intercourse' [1]. Their thinly veiled message on the importance of contraception served to encourage a generation of young female followers to develop greater self-empowerment - Girl Power. But, more importantly, it suited my weirdly...[read more]
In case you hadn't noticed, there's an Expo in town. And it seems like an increasing number of the people I meet have just arrived for said Expo, or to Shanghai in general, to work or to visit. Upping sticks for a new life, however brief (and especially to China), may be very different to anything they've known before.
So if you're fresh off the plane as once was I, you have much to learn my friend. Remember, ‘There are no...[read more]
6. Be a cunning linguist. Learn some key phrases. Needs must, and my first five phrases in order of importance were: ni hao (hello), xie xie (thank you), zai jian (goodbye), mei you rou (no meat) and dui (yes/agree). (It's the vegetarian's mantra! "Hello! I agree, no meat. Thank you, goodbye!"). Also, Chinese language podcasts you could probably Google on the intranet machine or something. In the meantime, having a Chinese-speaking acquaintance on call 24hrs a day to act as...[read more]
Qing Ming Festival-Sweeping the graves/tombs of ancestors
Small piles of black ash line the sides of the pavements on the eve of Qing Ming Qie. People burn paper money for their dead relatives and then draw a line of white chalk around the pile- the locals believe this keeps evil spirits away.
Qing Ming Qie (the Tomb Sweeping Festival), celebrated in China on the 4th April, is a time when families pay their respects and remember those who have died. Some families...[read more]
Rumour has it (and I always place my faith unquestionably in rumour) that the denizens of Shanghai are being awarded an extra two days over the Labour Day holiday - that's a total of five days, stretching from April 30 to May 4. Presumably, we will all be marshaled to various sites across the city to bathe in the reflected glory of the parti-coloured pavilions, as they glitter across the Shanghai landscape. Any excuse for extra holidays - I'll take...[read more]
Service in China is valued and conveyed in an extremely different way than in any other place in the world. Your first experience as a Shanghai newb at a local mom-and-pop Chinese restaurant was probably confusing as you flagged down each fuwuyuan for napkins, tea, plates, and food only to be blatantly ignored by the fifteen wait staff chatting away. You look around thinking, "It must be really busy today" and notice that there are only four other people eating.
Before...[read more]
Ayi is an enigma. She’s the only one able to fix the coffee machine in the office. She may seem all elusive, but really she’s omnipresent, sitting in the shadows or walking slowly and silently down the darkened corridors. Sometimes you don’t see her for hours, then suddenly you’ll be aware of a figure sitting very close behind you, starring intently at your computer screen. If you move around too much she’ll steal your chair and occasionally the...[read more]Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 under Chinese Culture | 5 comments
For the Chinese many of their taboos are related to their homophonic words. For instance the number 4 (sì) is similar to the word death (sĭ) and so people don't like this number as their house number, mobile number etc. and in some buildings there's no forth floor. This is also believed in Korea and in lifts there, instead of the number 4 they use the first letter of the word instead. Similarly fā, from the word fācái which means...[read more]
I must admit that when I was first in Shanghai, I never really used an ATM. At the age of five, the necessity of a bank account - let alone a card to access it - is minimal. I suppose The Bank of China might have been a safer storage facility than my Tin Tin-shaped piggy bank but considering I mostly filled it with jelly beans anyway, I think the coiffed Frenchman sufficed admirably.
Returning to China, having learnt to casually...[read more]
There is a new mysterious construction that I can see from my friends’ apartment window. “We think it’s a new theatre or stadium.” My friend, who is an architect said: - “It looks like a toilet seat.” That - or a Nike running shoe under sole. There are some funny looking buildings around. My German contingent – most of whom are architects - have a favourite building-in-Shanghai competition and it’s impossible to walk around without being subjected to...[read more]Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009 under Chinese Culture | 1 comment
As a young lad, my first journey into the exotic lands of the Orient was an exciting but overwhelming experience. Despite the feelings of joy at getting to see the second of my native countries for the first time, there were numerous occasions when I found myself terrified by harmless little trivialities, though at other times a healthy level of fear was rightly experienced - as when taking the metro.
When I first arrived in Shanghai in the early 90s, the...[read more]
"He's confused as to why you are still here," my friend translates. "Because I can't move my legs," I reply, breaking into peals of over-tired laughter. Finding yourself in a compromising situation where your language ability is inadequate makes it a lot easier to surrender yourself to humor. It was cold, it was Sunday, I was shopping with my girlfriends, then splat - I was face down on the pavement with dirt in my mouth and strangers asking what they...[read more]
Heading to the outskirts of Shanghai at this time of year is normally discouraged. The variety of responses you'll probably receive when excitedly telling friends will range from the more polite "Oh, really, won't it be a bit chilly?" to "Why the hell would you want to go to Hangzhou?" While it's normally advised to go during mild weather, sometime between the icy winds of winter and the scorching heat of summer, there are advantages to heading away at the...[read more]
I thought Christmas had come early. I thought I saw snow. I was all snug in my early morning email-checking freelance writer’s haze when I noticed my friend’s Facebook status had changed to read: “I just saw a chicken having it’s head sliced off on the sidewalk.” So I had to ask – what do you mean – Chicken slaughter? Where? In broad daylight by the side of the road? Really?
“Yes, I swear”, he responded. “I saw it with...[read more]Posted: Thursday, November 19, 2009 under Chinese Culture | 3 comments
I just can’t stop thinking about the taxi drivers across Shanghai. They actually have a great deal of power over your day when you think about it. A good cab journey can see you skipping off to your office full of the joys of Shanghai Spring. But they can equally annihilate any day into becoming what the whinging masses describe as a “China Day”. You know the kind of days, there are...[read more]Posted: Monday, November 09, 2009 under Chinese Culture | 2 comments
I hate that my Chinese is still crap. I was under the impression that after living somewhere for nigh on a year I’d at least be able to hold a conversation with old people and even a few small ones too. But no, my brain refuses to let my mouth make the sounds I know it should be fully capable of. It just won’t sink in…does anyone know of any good methods so all those tomes and tones...[read more]Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009 under Chinese Culture | 2 comments
I always wondered where she lives, the "Teddybear woman of Xuhui." Maybe she's friends with the beer-drinking monkey owner. But I only ever saw her after 9pm at night, pushing those sad floppy eared, raggedly looking bears through the streets of the French Concession. I kept trying to take her picture but when I arrived in Shanghai this time last year it was too cold for walking and every journey was made in cabs. So I always ended up with...[read more]
Walking down the street is a couple with a young boy, about 9 years old being carried in his mother's arms. As I walk up behind them I see something on the boy's head that's reflecting off the sun. With typical Chinese curiosity/nosiness, I start to discreetly tail the family and see five needles sticking out of various points on the boy's head. Some are protruding by a few centimetres but one needle, imbedded just above the middle of his...[read more]
I like to think I don't dress like a complete bum - my everyday wear is a shirt or t-shirt and a pair of jeans, largely clean and holeless. On the other hand, I don't wear a jacket, tie and suit trousers around town all the time. So why do so many people try to sell me property?
As soon as I set foot outside my compound, a gaggle of real estate salespeople flock around me and start honking, quacking and...[read more]
I think I have come to dislike that Monkey. He/she/it is always outside one club or another after I stumble out onto the pavement with the flotsam and jetsam, slightly worse for wear after yet another poisonous "all you can drink for a 100 kuai" bash.
It was outside Not Me again recently, chuckling and grogging back unsuspecting expats' dregs. A beer drinking monkey? There's nothing so special about that, this little fella can knock back a glass of red or...[read more]
On the last day of his stay in Shanghai, Michael gets a call from his hotel room from an uncle asking if he'd like to go for lunch before his flight leaves in the afternoon. Thinking that his uncle will give him a lift to the airport after, they agree to meet outside the main entrance of his hotel at 1pm.
Half an hour later, Michael receives a second phone call, this time from another man, 'I'm a friend of your...[read more]
As part of the new Enjoy website, our editors will be blogging daily snippets about what they love in Shanghai, revealing little-known pleasures, their own random amusements and gossiping about all the news around our city on the sea. Get involved and tell us what you do to enjoy Shanghai! This week, we start with something simple and everyday, but with its own Shanghai flavor - taking the bus.
Whenever I ask people what they do to enjoy Shanghai, I normally...[read more]
