Our last day in Shanghai. A time for reflection on the idiosyncratic differences between them and us. Nothing is necessarily better or worse, just different. Viz:
Spitting. Why oh why do they deem it necessary to reach to the bottom of their lungs to bring up whatever and spit it on the sidewalk/restaurant floor or wherever? Only men and old ladies (not the only sexually-differentiated behaviour here).
Smoking. I wish I'd come here when I was still smoking and drinking too much. There is a tobacco and wine store on every block. They never close: Heaven... - I mean, how disgusting! Smoking, while disallowed in a few places, nevertheless goes on everywhere. Most men smoke, and only a very few young women do, at least in public.
Personal Space as in: they have no concept of it. My butt has been fondled a few times; unfortunately, they were all small children trying to get me out of the way.
Privacy is not cherished by all. The other day, a young man was squatting over a hole-in-the-ground toilet in a restaurant, door open and all, having a shit, didn't bother with toilet paper or washing his hands. Lovely...
Motorized Begging. Although we have seen this only once, it could be the start of a worrying new trend. An old man was zipping around on what could have been a mobile karaoke machine continuously spouting out "MONEY! MONEY!". The man hugged me around butt-level while driving circles around me. He may have been trying to pick my pockets but I've stymied the best pickpockets in Europe so nothing was ever going to happen.
Shopping. There is old shopping and new shopping.
Old shopping probably derives from immemorial traditions. A dozen blocks or so of East Jingling roads are occupied almost exclusively by musical instrument shops, all very high end. I've not been able to ascertain the reasons for this. Further East, there are dozens of shops selling ribbons, most of them (the shops, not the ribbons) the size of a small walk-in closets. Ribbons, for sewing, dozens of stores. Why?
East Beijing road and vicinity form the hardware district. Again, there are walk-in closets full of nuts and bolts for blocks on end, as well as bigger stores selling, well, nuts and bolts, and more sophisticated stuff such as pressure gauges.
This is a street in the hardware district (yes, it is a real street, with a name, and doors on it have addresses):
Spitting. Why oh why do they deem it necessary to reach to the bottom of their lungs to bring up whatever and spit it on the sidewalk/restaurant floor or wherever? Only men and old ladies (not the only sexually-differentiated behaviour here).
Smoking. I wish I'd come here when I was still smoking and drinking too much. There is a tobacco and wine store on every block. They never close: Heaven... - I mean, how disgusting! Smoking, while disallowed in a few places, nevertheless goes on everywhere. Most men smoke, and only a very few young women do, at least in public.
Personal Space as in: they have no concept of it. My butt has been fondled a few times; unfortunately, they were all small children trying to get me out of the way.
Privacy is not cherished by all. The other day, a young man was squatting over a hole-in-the-ground toilet in a restaurant, door open and all, having a shit, didn't bother with toilet paper or washing his hands. Lovely...
Motorized Begging. Although we have seen this only once, it could be the start of a worrying new trend. An old man was zipping around on what could have been a mobile karaoke machine continuously spouting out "MONEY! MONEY!". The man hugged me around butt-level while driving circles around me. He may have been trying to pick my pockets but I've stymied the best pickpockets in Europe so nothing was ever going to happen.
Shopping. There is old shopping and new shopping.
Old shopping probably derives from immemorial traditions. A dozen blocks or so of East Jingling roads are occupied almost exclusively by musical instrument shops, all very high end. I've not been able to ascertain the reasons for this. Further East, there are dozens of shops selling ribbons, most of them (the shops, not the ribbons) the size of a small walk-in closets. Ribbons, for sewing, dozens of stores. Why?
East Beijing road and vicinity form the hardware district. Again, there are walk-in closets full of nuts and bolts for blocks on end, as well as bigger stores selling, well, nuts and bolts, and more sophisticated stuff such as pressure gauges.
This is a street in the hardware district (yes, it is a real street, with a name, and doors on it have addresses):
Other than that, the whole city seems to be mostly dedicated to the new shopping: brand name fashion shopping. Yuk!
The Old Economy.
The electrical system can be a bit scary. When I plug something in, there is a nice spark to tell me things are live. I try not to think about the black burn mark above the plug. They do not use ground wires or polarized plugs. Show this picture to an electrician and ask her what she thinks (this is by no means an unusual situation):
Scaffolding, the old way:
It may be hard to tell from this picture, but this is the nearest example of actual bootstrapping I've ever seen. The man tied a crossbar to two bamboo poles, climbed on it and, while leaning against a wall, proceeded, to build the whole thing into a scaffolding, with all modern safety devices. The only help he had was a ground crew passing up the poles as required.Note how solid the twine looks, yet it's also used to secure the fire extinguisher, which one would assume would be needed in a hurry.
It may be hard to tell from this picture, but this is the nearest example of actual bootstrapping I've ever seen. The man tied a crossbar to two bamboo poles, climbed on it and, while leaning against a wall, proceeded, to build the whole thing into a scaffolding, with all modern safety devices. The only help he had was a ground crew passing up the poles as required.Note how solid the twine looks, yet it's also used to secure the fire extinguisher, which one would assume would be needed in a hurry.
Presumably, they're using more modern methods for the Shanghai Tower, on its way to a height of 2,073 ft.
Chinese water torture, redux: our shower runs the gamut from icy to boiling, unprompted, without warning and frequently. Needless to say, you can't get hot water in public bathrooms.
Public Bathrooms. You wouldn't want to eat off the floor, but they are near-ubiquitous and very welcome to those of us afflicted with tiny, nervous bladders.
Cirque du Lightbulb. We got conned into yet another great Shanghai "attraction". If you read their blurb, this acrobatic troupe just must be seen to be believed. Well, that is true, in a way.It became clear early during the opening act (juggling --girls on unicycles) that the evening would be like attending a school play for the kid of your next-door-neighbour-but-one. Every move was painstakingly set up; segues between acts consisted of lights off for however long it took; they used safety harnesses and spotters in case something went wrong, which it often did. The backdrop to the action was a series of badly out-of-focus cartoon cityscapes, while the music would not have been out of place on the cutting floor of a Warner Brothers' Merry Melodies set. Oh well, live and learn.
Numerology can guide quite a few decisions. Most restaurant items are priced at 38, 58, 68 etc... as 8 is considered the most auspicious number.
Things that are the same include the social boorishness of people with cell phones, checking and texting in order to converse with all the people who haven't bothered to show up to see them in person.
Lagniappe
Communist ideology has long been left behind by most people in the Party, although a stubborn rump still clings to the many and varied lunacies of "Mao Dze Dong thought" (for what it's worth, the Little Red Book is the most plentiful article for sale in antiques markets). A recent development has shown, however, that the Party still doesn't quite get how things work in the real world. As part of a campaign against corruption and ostentatious displays of wealth by high Party officials, the latter have been banned from staying at 5-star hotels while on official business. The utterly predictable result has been a rush by 5-star hotels to be demoted to 4-star status.
Public Bathrooms. You wouldn't want to eat off the floor, but they are near-ubiquitous and very welcome to those of us afflicted with tiny, nervous bladders.
Cirque du Lightbulb. We got conned into yet another great Shanghai "attraction". If you read their blurb, this acrobatic troupe just must be seen to be believed. Well, that is true, in a way.It became clear early during the opening act (juggling --girls on unicycles) that the evening would be like attending a school play for the kid of your next-door-neighbour-but-one. Every move was painstakingly set up; segues between acts consisted of lights off for however long it took; they used safety harnesses and spotters in case something went wrong, which it often did. The backdrop to the action was a series of badly out-of-focus cartoon cityscapes, while the music would not have been out of place on the cutting floor of a Warner Brothers' Merry Melodies set. Oh well, live and learn.
Numerology can guide quite a few decisions. Most restaurant items are priced at 38, 58, 68 etc... as 8 is considered the most auspicious number.
Things that are the same include the social boorishness of people with cell phones, checking and texting in order to converse with all the people who haven't bothered to show up to see them in person.
Lagniappe
Communist ideology has long been left behind by most people in the Party, although a stubborn rump still clings to the many and varied lunacies of "Mao Dze Dong thought" (for what it's worth, the Little Red Book is the most plentiful article for sale in antiques markets). A recent development has shown, however, that the Party still doesn't quite get how things work in the real world. As part of a campaign against corruption and ostentatious displays of wealth by high Party officials, the latter have been banned from staying at 5-star hotels while on official business. The utterly predictable result has been a rush by 5-star hotels to be demoted to 4-star status.