I’m on my way back from another trip to China, and despite the fact that I didn’t think there’ll be anything to write about when I left, it seems that there is always something to write about China…
Spent the first weekend showing Dan (cow-orker) around the city. Dan had never been to China before, so he was both a little apprehensive about his limited communication ability but at the same time also interested in exploring. We started by walking around People’s Square, Nanjing road and the Bund. There were lots of people at the square, mostly Chinese enjoying a sunny and very pleasant Sunday. Nanjing road, OTOH, is quickly becoming a hassle. It’s crowded, I guess that would be a given for THE pedestrian mall of Shanghai, but that is not the problem, the problem are the hawkers. It’s hard to walk a block down that street without being “attacked” by a mob of people offering anything from “authentic” Chinese antiques to massages (not sure what’s involved here, but I am guessing they are not promoting the legit massage places you see all over the city). It’s even worse at night, where the number of “massage” offers increases significantly.
More interesting than Nanjing road is walking through the alleys of old Shanghai.
You quickly run into the market (it’s hard not to, almost all streets look like a market in that part of town) and a very different cultural experience. People are nice, they often seem as curious about the foreigners as we are about them which is a bit surprising, there are more and more laowai roaming the not so beaten paths of the city these days. Anyway, the market is always interesting because it gives me a glimpse into Chinese people’s life – you learn a lot about people from looking at what they eat.
Next to the usual offerings – fresh fish in plastic tubs, food being cooked and served on the street and a variety of spices I recognize but don’t know the names of – there were fruits and vegetables I had not seen in the markets before. Fruits that used to be found only in stores that catered to foreigners are now available in the market (not sure if they are seasonal or if there is access to some of these fruits year around).
It seems that at least in Shanghai, even the people that live in Hutongs have developed a taste for fruits not native to the area and are willing to pay for it. I saw a cart with reddish round fruit being sold on one of the streets. People were snacking on this fruit by breaking the hard shell and eating the inner white parts. I just had to try it. Turned out to be pretty sweet and very tasty, but don’t ask me for the Chinese name, because I can’t remember it now…
Another change (not really new, but more obvious now) is the demolition of many of these Hutongs in the older parts of town to make room for even more high rises. The Xiang-yang market was closed last summer, at least according to Xinhua (Chinese news agency) due to IP violations (it was the premier market in Shanghai to buy fake goods). They forgot to mention a $450M deal to build a new development in the vast tract of land that was home to that market…
The same thing can be seen in residential areas of old town. Block after block of old houses being replaced by new high-rise complexes.
The following weekend I organized a trip for my cow-orkers to Hangzhou to see Xi Hu (West Lake, one of China’s most famous lakes) and the Lingyin Si, a Buddhist temple near the lake. The trip there and back was an adventure in its right, but I’ll talk about Chinese driving (again?) in a minute. We started by visiting the temple, and North Peak, the mountain just behind it.
Lingyin Si was first built in the 4th century C.E., but has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. Today it’s preserved in typical Chinese fashion by replacing the old worn sections with new (but identical to the old) ones. It’s a bit disappointing, but it does give you a much better look at what the original looked like.
The climb to North peak was tough. It’s a long path that is mostly wide steps almost all the way to the observatory. Yes, there is a cable car, but we didn’t take it. From the temple we went to have lunch by the lake walked around some of it and went to learn about tea in a local “tea museum” and farm.
And then it was time to drive back to Shanghai. Another change I have noted is that many Chinese drivers have started to gain some real speed on the roads. It used to be that they drove cars like they ride bicycles, but at speeds where it was silly but entertaining to watch. Now, when they still drive as you would ride a bicycle (no lane discipline, no following distance, allowing the car to drift between lanes and never looking down the road any further than the end of your hood) but add real hwy speeds it becomes a little more worrying. It’s like one long close call from the moment you leave until (hopefully) you arrive. And traffic is only getting denser an denser everyday as more people get private cars and companies
expand their fleets.
The Shanghai stock exchange has been in the news regularly in the last few months. It seems to be growing at an amazing pace, fueled by ever growing numbers of investors in the Chinese stock markets. It sure makes the local papers every day. I read earlier this week that there is a shortage of Ayis (house maids). It seems many are either quitting or taking only part time jobs so that they can spend more time investing in the market. It’s understandable, the Shanghai market has been returning amazing gains in the last few months, nobody wants to miss on the action of getting richer. Everybody is investing in Chinese stocks.
Since everything goes up constantly, it doesn’t seem to matter what stocks you pick, you always look like you are the next Warren Buffet. Reminds me of the early 80’s in the Israeli stock market or late 90’s in the US. Everybody is in, and many are in way over their means, with margin loans, second mortgages, etc. When the bubble pops it’s going to be ugly. Many years ago in Israel, Shalom Hanoch wrote the “Messiah is not coming” (to save them when the bubble burst) and about how people were jumping off the roofs due to the financial losses. Shanghai has a lot of sky-scrappers. It’s sad to think a lot of people will making use of them when the bubble pops.
On Sunday I met with my friend Dave. He lives in Portland but it has been a while since we had a chance to meet. He was in Shanghai for business, so we took advantage of our free time there to catch up. I was showing him around Hengshan Lu when he asks if I ha been to English Corner. It sounded familiar, but I know I had not been there, so I asked what is it? He says – You’ll see.
We go to the People’s Park and as soon as we get there I remember. English Corner is where people meet to practice their English on Sunday afternoons. It’s right next to the spot where Chinese parents come with what I call “spec sheets” to match-making for their son/daughter. It’s funny to see them walk around with the print outs of their offspring, showing it to other parents and taking notes on possible matches. But we weren’t there for that, so we continue to English Corner.
As soon as we get there, this large Chinese guy comes over and says – Do you speak English? We say yes, he grabs us and leads Dave to one group of Chinese standing in a circle and me to another. It started with simple introductions, then some typical basic questions, but as soon as they warmed up to me, it got interesting. The levels of English were varied from very basic to very good. We talked about almost everything that has been in the news lately, work, life in China and the US, travel, etc. The only topics that were not touched directly were politics, or at least anything that could lead to a critical discussion of the govt. I wouldn’t have touched it anyway, even if someone had brought it up. I have no interest in finding out what Chinese police/secret service stations look like from the inside. I found out that even more than in the market, you learn a lot about people and how they perceive the US from the questions they were asking. I hope I did a good job representing you guys.
Before I knew it, I had been standing there for almost 4 hours, people came and went, but there was a group of people that stood there and chatted with me all that time and they wouldn’t let go. When Dave came to drag me away from them he was giving me a hard time about my new girlfriends, as I had accumulated quite a few e-mails and phone numbers in those 4 hours…
Zaijian,
Gustavo