China Segment

The news in China is a complete joke. The main nightly news just finished Shanghai TV. Let me summarize it.

First, fifteen minutes of self-congratulatory pats on the back for how great Shanghai is. Report after report on how the city has made so many improvements for the 2010 Expo, such as new subway lines and tunnels under the Huangpu River. Okay, so Shanghai deserves to celebrate, but is the news the proper forum?

Then, about ten minutes of reports on traffic disruptions and rerouting for a fairly large zone around the Expo site. This, at least is newsworthy and people need to know about it. The drivers interviewed seemed to go along with it quite well - how nice of them not to grumble on camera! Then there was a little more news about all the beefed up security around town at train stations, highways, subways, and especially any transport headed into the Expo zone.

Finally, after twenty-five minutes of news, they got around the big story of the past two days: the earthquake in Qinghai. This was a fairly large quake, at 7.1, and it killed 600 people and devastated villages with poorly built homes. Shanghai TV spent approximately 30 seconds on it. My jaw almost dropped, only hesitating from seven years of low expectations from news on state-controlled TV.

Bad news doesn’t play well in China. The earthquake Sichuan had made massive headlines only because of its enormity and the massive demand for information. But the stories were well managed by the Party apparatchiks and interesting and important information about such topics as poorly built schools collapsing were hushed up. During the recent Party Congress meetings, reporters had lists of subjects they couldn’t report on or had to limit, as reported by the New York Times.

This kind of biased reporting is a national tragedy. People deserve real news. I cannot defend what happens in much of North America, where the news is drama and opinion and frightening the public is the way to get ratings. China should be smarter than this, but the Communist Party is still afraid of anything that reflects badly on them. And unfortunately, the disparity between people’s grumblings and the news reported is growing. Most of the people I know have had it with the Expo and all the inconveniences it’s brought to life in this city. So life carries on in China, with people grumbling and the government and its news cronies continuing on as if everything is as rosy as the 11.9% GDP “growth” (read: investments in empty buildings and make-work projects) they had in the first quarter of this year.

Forgive me for getting so pessimistic. I should chill out more; the average person here already knows the news is mostly hooey.

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It’s no secret that China is strong in manufacturing, engineering and massive infrastructure projects. India is better at information technology and services. Google has effectively left China, whereas it has a strong presence in Hyderabad. Now, Facebook too, is setting up shop in India. China should take note. Facebook came to China to check out the feasibility of opening up a Chinese office a couple of years back, but figured that government censorship and restrictions would prove too much of a burden. So big deal, India gets (another) social media site doing business within its borders.

Yet these are the markers of a trend, a trend that I thought was over-pronounced by some - that India is democratic, creative and service-oriented, whereas China’s only good at making things others have designed. China doesn’t really give a shit that Google.cn will go the way of the dodo bird. Frankly, I’m sure it wants to protect its own and only deal with internet search engines that censor what it deems ‘inappropriate’ to its oh-so-impressionable public, like anything regarding separatism, unhappy minorities, massacres, anti-party rhetoric, and porn. But will China’s tech sector really blossom in isolation? I doubt it. Keep up the copying China.

India, on the other hand, is poised. Poised and ready to have a say in whether this is ‘China’s century’ or one in which power in Asia is relative. Time is on India’s side, as it is growing quickly, youthful, and dynamic while China is aging, and frankly, looks decisively passé if it really can’t do business with Google. India has its share of problems, no doubt about it. But a country that welcomes freedom of information has got to have an advantage down the road in terms of education, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

It really is a shame that China’s government lacks self-confidence and is too immature to admit mistakes and have an open and free internet. I think there is so much potential here in fields like green energy, cinema & animation, and even aerospace. In the long run the threat of arbitrary policing, corruption and government strictures may scare many foreign companies out of the largest market on earth. (Though see here).

I’ve seen so many signs in the past few months that my time in China should be up, and I think Google leaving (or redirecting, to be precise) is one of them. Perhaps it is time to redirect to India. For now, I’m on the way back to Canada, but am quite assuredly stating that India is the next country I want to learn. That’s right, I said ‘learn,’ not ‘learn about.’ I came to China to learn; because it’s a Superpower To Be. And I love this country, but think I’ve had enough for now. It’s still developing like mad, but I don’t feel it’s where the action is anymore. Maybe it’s just to harmonized for me.

Get on the India train,
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Well we finally sent the immigration package to Canada… which is why I haven’t been posting here. It’s been like 6 weeks with this stuff. Reading the guides, getting documents, getting said documents translated or notarized. It really is intense for something that is basically just paperwork.

Rachel is immigrating to Canada with me. As I wrote about before, it’s time to go back, get the qualifications I need to be a ‘real’ teacher and set up shop in Vancouver. We should be a slam-dunk case, as we have a real marriage, but we still spent a lot of time on this thing to try to make it perfect. As a sponsor, I am a bit odd. Seems from the forms that most of them live in Canada and sponsor someone who’s living in China. Doesn’t that strike you as prima facie a sham marriage? Anyway, I actually live with my wife and we share all of our money - again, an odd fit with the forms because they’re trying to flush out arranged marriages and mail-order brides. I’m going back to Canada for school but don’t have a letter of acceptance yet since UBC takes until May to inform people if they got into their 12-month Ed. degree program. So I have no letter of acceptance, no job in Canada, and am self-employed here. Thus, I am atypical. Hopefully we can convince them that I am really going back and I am able to support Rachel. In order to go look for an apartment and get things set up, I just bought a one-way plane ticket to Vancouver, July 22. This is big. One-way says it all.

It’s one day after sending the package to Mississauga, where they process these things, and I’ve already found out that I made 2 small mistakes. Hopefully once the thing gets a file number and they start processing it we can send the correct info. Like I said, small mistakes, but you can’t misrepresent anything on these forms, and these kinds of details make for delays. The normal processing time for a spouse is somewhere between 4-6 months. I’m hoping our will be finished and approved by August, but there are many horror stories out there of it taking a lot longer. It really burns me that filling out the forms was so difficult, since having been through law school and passing the bar exams, it should have been easy for me. No such luck. My brain must have shrunk in the last few years, cause there were many nights of me banging my head against a wall trying to figure out all the conflicting instructions.

Anyway, hopefully it all goes smoothly. By the time we sent it I just wanted all those forms out of our lives. There are two steps to the approval. First, I am approved/denied as a sponsor. I am a Canadian citizen and I’ve never committed a crime, so that should not be problem. Second, the package gets sent to Beijing and they take a look at whether our marriage is real and approve Rachel as an applicant. We sent 63 pictures and a heck of a lot of documentation on our relationship. We could have had more, but bills get lost, emails disappear when people change accounts, and some things are just hard to find. But it should appear as obvious that we’re a real couple and haven’t done all this just to scam immigration officials. Some of the questions on the forms are hilarious from our point of view, but there are a lot of fake marriages out there in the world. Immigration should try to flush them out.

Some things about immigration need to be thought out far in advance. Rachel and I have lived together since 2005, but never got both our names on a lease. We’ve traveled to all sorts of different places and taken pictures of those places and ourselves, but could have used more obvious shots like us in front of Capilano suspension bridge or Hong Kong’s Star Ferry. We’re really bad at just taking photos of places or us, but not the two together. Receipts, even for things like weddings and engagement rings can be really hard to find after several years. Thankfully we did find a lot of things in various corners of our home and in email accounts to help us. We should look stellar compared to some people who meet once for a wedding and then try to apply.

I’m mostly optimistic and excited about going back to Canada. Rachel, naturally, has mixed emotions. She wants to move to Canada and continue our life together there, but is feeling bad about leaving her home, her city and her family. We’ll have to go with the flow on that. The waiting that we’ll go through over the next several months isn’t going to be easy, but once we’re all settled and in Vancouver I’m sure it’s going to be great. Thankfully, once the immigration is done, it’s done. We’ll never have to do it again. I promise. Relax.

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Gifts during Spring Festival usually consist of alcohol, cigarettes, chocolates or other candy, fruit, etc. This year my wife had the great idea to take her grandparents to Shanghai Circus World. We invited Rachel’s parents as well - partly to be nice, but also because we needed someone to drive the grandparents into town and up to Zhabei, where Circus World is located. It soon mushroomed into uncles and aunts, and before we knew it, there were eight of us. This being an event involving locals, we needed to eat as well, so we got a room at a hot pot place at nearby DaNing 大宁, a much more normal shopping/dining development than Xintiandi.

So after dinner it was on to Circus World. Fortunately this is one place in Shanghai that is relatively easy to get to. It’s located at 2266 Gonghexin Road 共和新路, near Guangzhong Road 广中路, and is served by a line one subway stop, appropriately named Shanghai Circus World Station 上海马戏城站.

The show currently running at Circus World is called ERA - Intersection of Time 时空之旅. Despite the name, the theme seemed to be sort of like Flashdance or a young Michael Jackson video like Beat It, involving lots of young men and women dressed like 80’s punk rockers. There were several parts worth mentioning. First, there was a scene where the guys lined up to do different jumps through various hoops, showing off their speed and agility. Then the older, bigger leader of the pack did a bunch of stunts where he threw ceramic bowls up into the air, catching them with his hands or skull, and spinning them around his body like a basketball, all with control and precision. The girls were not to be outdone, doing sets where they walked around on their hands and did different (and incredible) poses that normal people can’t even try (think legs behind heads and arms wrapped around) and a trapeze act. A large ferris wheel type apparatus was moved in and the acrobats took turns walking within small circles on the sides of it (like gerbils) and on the top. One man and woman stole the show in my opinion, by wrapping ribbons around their legs or arms, using them like gymnasts use the rings, and romantically dancing and being lifted by the ribbons into flight like Peter Pan. A motorcycle performance wrapped up the show, with several of them predictably going into the same sphere cage and driving around in horizontal and vertical circles. Seen that one before.

Overall the show was fantastic, even living up to its catch-phrase: ‘miss it and you miss Shanghai.’

Shows run every night starting at 7:30 and last a little less than two hours. Tickets are 80, 180, 280, 380, and 580 RMB for VIP seats. We got the 180s, but we were right behind the 380 ones and it didn’t look like we were missing much. The whole place is not very large, so unless you’re off in the corners, you have good seats. There were a lot of tour groups, indicating that - like many attractions in Shanghai - the locals overlook it. Most people I’ve talked to have never been there despite it being well-known. In my opinion it’s certainly worth the price and is far better than another night of KTV, bars, or TV at home.

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Well it’s about time I wrote a post about urinals in China. (Mr. Nice Guy in the last post reverts back to form.)

Why?

If you were a guy who’s been to China you wouldn’t need to ask. But then I’ve heard girls have their own issues. See more below.

I come from a country that has its own sanitation issues. In Canada people tend to over-clean and use too many anti-bacterial soaps, disinfecting themselves to the point that their immune systems get sloppy and they die from molds. China is not known for such cleanliness, but then in Shanghai, things are generally pretty decent. Yet stepping into men’s public bathrooms, be they in busy restaurants, shopping malls, or even office towers, takes one aback. There are usually little puddles of liquid below the urinals. I’ll spare you the suspense - it’s not from too much water during the flushing - it’s urine. Why do Chinese men seem to pee on the floor instead of into the urinal? It’s quite simple actually.

They stand way too far back. They’re a mile away from that thing, often not even giving much of an effort in trying to hit the target. Many men are rightfully afraid that the urinals are not the cleanest surfaces on earth. They don’t want any part of their bodies or clothing to touch them. They also don’t want splash-back, a phenomenon not too difficult to imagine for those of you who’ve never peed standing up. I sympathize with these men, but only to a degree. Pissing on the floor is obviously not helping the hygienic conditions in the bathrooms. It smells, it obviously will splash back onto their shoes and pants, and the next guy has to stand in it. Or they do something like me and try to widen their stance so as not to have piss-stained shoe soles afterward.

Pressure is perhaps another issue, but only with older men. The bottom of the urinal sticks out a little bit, but if you’re more than a few centimeters away from that thing and are over 50, it’s just not going to make it. I’m not saying they need to hump the damn thing, just not pee on the floors!

Now there are trickles and small drops on the floors of urinals in Canada to be sure. We all mis-fire from time to time, and aim isn’t always perfect after six beers. But I never really noticed it as an issue to even think about in my 25 years back home, yet in roughly two weeks I noticed it here. And had conversations about it.

I’m really not making this up. I’m not shitting you - pun not intended and wrong bodily function anyway. To prove I’m not just going off at the mouth, there are signs in bathrooms telling men to stand closer to the urinals. There, that’s it. They’re told to stand closer so they don’t pee on the floor and the staff don’t have to clean it up every five minutes. Plus it’s a slip and fall risk. (Can you imagine!) I would post a picture of the sign and of the puddles, but I really don’t want to be standing in a men’s bathroom with my camera out taking photos. I really don’t want that label… whatever it is. I’m quite sure they interrogate people for that sort of thing. But if I get a chance, it’ll be posted up here as an update.

As for women, I’ve heard various stories. Shoe prints on the seat are one thing. Since again, they don’t trust that it’s clean, some gals won’t even sit on the toilet, so they squat on it. Of course the seat is dirty for the next girl… sometimes with dirt, sometimes with pee that was poorly aimed and not wiped off. I really don’t want to have to verify this with photos, so you’ll just have to believe me and my non-named sources. It happened at a former school of mine where the students and teachers were well-educated white-collar types, so we’re not talking about train bathrooms in the middle of the countryside or something. (Those are an experience all their own.) Men are usually not so picky about sitting on the seats and probably figure it’s too much to balance up there anyway, but I’ve seen a couple foot prints before.

Shudder. Sorry for putting you through this. If you really did read this post, I promise never to write about bathrooms and urinals again. I’ve been waiting to write about urine… though it’s happened before… and another time. Probing for the right time. Well I’ve stepped in too much piss to wait any longer, so here we are. Your welcome.

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Over the last couple of months I’ve had more than my share of posts that are a little on the negative side, and I really don’t want this blog to turn into a complete rant. I do love this country and this city in many ways, and I should make a better effort to post about some of the reasons.

For now, a list of great reasons to live in Shanghai. Visiting is one thing - I’ll visit just about anywhere once, but staying somewhere for a few years is a different matter. In case you’re looking at coming to Shanghai in the near future, a couple items on this list might tempt you. So in no particular order (though counting down anyway):

10. Culture - Shanghai doesn’t always win marks for this, but in my six plus years here I’ve been invited to weddings, engagement parties, birthday parties, KTV nights, Chinese New Years’ celebrations/fireworks displays, Lantern Festival, Tomb-sweeping days, and a funeral, visited temples, and given and received gifts. And of course, I got married in China, have had countless dinners with my in-laws, and learned a huge amount about Chinese and local Shanghainese culture from them. There are large regional differences in China, and one of the good things about Shanghai drawing millions of people from other provinces for work is that they all mix together and you can see various traditions side by side.

9. Relative ease for foreigners to land jobs/booming economy - the fail-safe is teaching English, but lightning can strike here, my friend. Many a laowai has come to Shanghai hoping to find their niche, and some do (acting, starting businesses, designing) but at the very least you can support yourself and not be a statistic. Aside from about two slow quarters last year, Shanghai has been booming since 1990. There is money, there are jobs, and there are legions of opportunities for those willing to take a chance.

8. Interesting people to work, socialize, and create with - Shanghai has a huge drawing power, not only for China’s talent pool, but for people and companies from all over the globe. Those people form networks, companies, friendships and sometimes even more. All sorts of people come to Shanghai, and just about everyone from a Western country can find someone from their hometown. Some come because they’re running from something, but many more because they’re running to something. This is what makes Shanghai the cutting edge of China.

7. Old and new coalesce in strange ways - You’ve seen the pictures, the contrasts. Shanghai has ultra-über-new skyscrapers and old and traditional row houses. Cycle down to the Bund or any park at dawn and see the elderly exercising, practicing swordplay or doing taichi. Yet Shanghai is now home to state of the art R & D centers for Fortune 500 companies who ever preach consumerism and fast-paced lifestyles. The gap between generations is enormous in China, and the social strains of modernization, privatization, urbanization and creating a market economy are fascinating to see up close, even if the language barrier prevents one from understanding it all. Great to contemplate over a hot cup of soothing tea.

6. It’s not Beijing - I can’t knock Beijing too much, and I do know some people who prefer it. But from most standpoints, Shanghai is a more interesting, cleaner prettier city with better infrastructure and more pace. Beijing is slow, bureaucratic and too consumed with politics. True, Shanghai is a temptress, a money-whore, and a tad too trendy, but hey, that’s life when you’re the economic center of a developing country where fat-cats dominate. It is the place to beat on the mainland.

5. Architecture - Shanghai has no architecture, sort of. There are tons of different styles, fortunately the massive building program is starting to cover up some of the incredibly boring structures of the 1950s-1980s era. We are left with the older colonial and mixed traditional-colonial styles, Art-Deco, and the modern ‘what is that?’ style. The Bund and Huangpu District are the places for most of the classic colonial buildings. I call them colonial even though Shanghai was never colonized. Yet looking around in the concessions it sure looks like it was. The French built beautiful mansions throughout their section of the city and most of them are still around. Hongkou and Yangpu districts were havens for Jewish designs and other Anglo-American structures. Even the row houses were a mix of traditional Chinese quadrangle buildings with Western styles. I could go on, but this would turn into a post on architecture. Unfortunately in all of this, planners in Shanghai forgot to ask themselves what kind of look they really wanted for the city, and what we’re left with is rather eclectic, to put it mildly.

4. History - from the previous section on architecture, you can guess that there is some really interesting history to the city. But to get any impression of it, you need to head to the library and find essays and books on the Shanghai of the 1870s-1930s. The super-fast growth into a world city is still impressive today, and there are unique looks at fashion, mores, business practices - especially advertising the first department stores on the mainland, the popularization of milk, etc., all of which mirror the modern version of China’s ‘opening up’ to the world, sometimes with the very same companies leading the way. Unfortunately, I haven’t done many posts at all on Shanghai’s history; something I will have to remedy.

3. Women/Men - I would never suggest coming to China to look for love. However, if you come here, there happen to be over 600 million women around, probably a good 120 million between 18 and 35, perhaps half of those unmarried. Whatever the numbers are, China has many beautiful women, and again, Shanghai is a lure, a magnet. Heads turn easily on Huaihai or Nanjing West roads, Xintiandi or even in Xujiahui. Even if you’re looking for that ‘one in a million,’ China has many millions. I’m not just talking about looks either. Chinese people are warm-hearted and finding a mate is extremely important here. Love stories are ever-present in TV, film, and music, and books and TV programs about how to find love or about dating are big sellers. Chinese men are neglected in these types of discussions and often jokes are made about all the foreign men with Chinese women and few foreign women snapping up Chinese men. Yet there are plenty of Chinese guys with quite striking features, and in Shanghai quite a few are tall and strongly built; I don’t feel nearly as tall here as I do in Hong Kong. Office buildings are crammed with young, good-looking guys in suits. They’re hot commodities to be sure, but China has many more men than women, a huge problem that will result in many men never finding a wife.

2. Food - It’s China. Enough said? I can’t say Shanghainese food is my favorite style of cuisine, but you can find all types of Chinese food in this city. Western food is either 20 kuai fast food or 500 kuai for good quality dining, but not much in between. But let’s face it, you didn’t come here for New England Clam Chowder. Chinese food is quite cheap, spicy, salty, sweet, sour, bitter - however you want it, they got it. Sauces can be rich and strong, or light, preserving the natural flavors of the foods. Food - especially vegetables and fish - is fresh. If it ain’t staring at you 15 minutes before you eat it, it sounds like Canadian food. I will sincerely miss the food when I leave (though I will feel more at ease that I’m not poisoning myself with melamine and mercury). By the way, for a great site that explains Chinese dishes, check out Kung Fu Eats.

1. Proximity to water towns - the water towns of Xitang, Zhouzhuang, Zhujiajiao, Tongli, and others are so wonderful to visit when it’s not peak season. My one regret is not visiting one during the rare times they’re covered with snow since they look all the more beautiful. Shanghai is big city, a city’s city, a massive concrete jungle. so you need to get out once in a while and relax. Hangzhou is overdone and very often overcrowded. Head for the water towns not listed in the books (or this website). Just head out with your stuff to the long distance bus station at Shanghai Stadium and pick one that you’ve never heard of before. You can head for the day, or stay over night. Magical. Shanghai is also close to great places to visit like Huangshan, Nanjing, Suzhou, Ningbo, and Putuoshan. There’s a lot of places to go for a weekend or even longer and travel is relatively easy with two airports, several train stations and lot of long-distance buses.

So that’s it, again, in no particular order. Though I gave them descending numbers. You can choose which you think is tops for yourself or add more. All I know is learning about the culture (#10) might be the most rewarding for me long term, but that the food and water towns (#2, #1) were perhaps the most enjoyable.

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A few days ago I was privileged to attend the wedding of my wife’s cousin and his fiancée, who had been engaged for about 9 months. It was held in the home of the groom’s father’s mother (his grandmother). She has a farmhouse in Fengxian district 奉贤区, in the countryside of Shanghai. For those of you who don’t know, Shanghai is more or less a city-state, with a relatively large hinterland rivaling Singapore or even Hong Kong. Surrounding the city center are miles and miles of farmland and villages, some of which are being transformed into suburbs.

Anyway, weddings today in China mostly consist of three parts: the pickup, the meal and the toasting. I was on video camera duty, so I got to see the groom and some of his male relatives get driven to the bride’s family home. There the bride’s girlfriends or female relatives often give the groom trouble, making him give out hongbaos 红包 with a small amount of money to bribe his way to his new bride. My wife’s cousin had it relatively easy - the girls around didn’t give him any trouble and he was able to eventually escort the bride to the awaiting car. The brides’ friends then helped her change shoes as she got into the car, leaving her old shoes behind and taking shoes to match her white wedding dress along with her in an act symbolizing her transition from a life at home with family to a new life with as a married woman.

Meanwhile relatives on both sides were busy conveying the new furniture purchased for the couple. In Shanghai it is the groom’s family’s responsibility to provide the home for the new couple, whether with his parents or in their own new place. The bride’s family gives something like a dowry - furniture and appliances for the new home, in part to offset some of the cost. A large flatbed truck was loaded up with Midea (a Chinese brand that makes pretty good appliances) products. The convoy of cars then headed for the groom’s apartment - the home he lives in with his parents, which is where he and his wife will live together until they can afford their own place. They married quite young - I believe he’s about 24 and she’s a couple years younger. These days it’s hard for anyone to afford a home in Shanghai, even out in the countryside where real estate is quite a lot cheaper than downtown Puxi. The bride’s family and others helped to hoist the dowry goods up the stairs (no elevator since it’s a low-rise building), where there were some refreshments served. From what I hear, this kind of thing is not always done, and in any case is normally all set up before the wedding day.

Not much time was spared at the couple’s home before the wedding party headed towards the banquet at what can only be described as a farm/village. There is no clear separation of farmhouses and villages in China as there is in North America since the countryside is populated so much more densely. Farmhouses technically have a village address, much like one in Canada would have a P.O. Box number in the nearest town. The house had two levels, with two sorts of ‘halls’ in and a kitchen in the bottom, and bedrooms on the top floor. There was a courtyard to the side of the kitchen where a catering company had set up their steamers and other equipment. Tables were placed in the halls and a sort of garage - about 25 in all. The doors were all opened up and never closed. There were no heaters, and it was one of the coldest days of the year. Chinese New Year is a good time for weddings since the family is all together anyway, but it is certainly a cold time for this sort of traditional countryside wedding.

Once the wedding party had arrived back at the farmhouse, the bride had a quick change into a red qipao, and the meal began. No ceremony or speeches were done, and everyone seemed quite relaxed. There were not really any formalities. Having eaten for only five minutes or so, the bride and groom and his parents got up to go around to each table and each guest to toast them. The bride was introduced to the people she didn’t know and told how to address them. For example, father’s younger brother shushu 叔叔 for actual uncles of that description or for men around the same age as the groom’s father, grandma nainai 奶奶 for the groom’s mother but also for women of that same age group, etc. Cousins were addressed didi 弟弟, gege 哥哥, meimei 妹妹 and jiejie 姐姐, words for brothers and sisters, not the traditional ‘cousin’ names such as biaodi 表弟, and tangmei 堂妹, a practice quite common since the one-child policy virtually eliminated true brothers and sisters. Having addressed the guests by the appropriate names, the bride and groom toasted them, and given hongbaos in return (held by a family friend who kept track of them all). The groom handed out cigarettes to those who wanted them and the bride lit them, a (relatively recent) tradition that I cringe at and not-so-secretly hope will die out soon.

By the time the toasting was finally over, lunch was finished. Some of the guests left, but most hung around chatting, sitting out in the sun, upstairs on the balconies, etc. Most people stayed for dinner, which commenced around 4:30 pm… yes, we were in the countryside. Dinner was a lighter affair than lunch, and even less formal. The bride and groom were in casual clothes by this time, and people just kind of sat wherever they wanted as opposed to the planned seating of lunch. Some of the dishes that had been served toward the end of lunch were just there for show, like roast duck or whole hams, and were cut up and served for dinner - so you’re actually getting leftovers at a wedding. Nevertheless the food was quite good and warmed us all up, especially hot, oily dishes like pork cooked in soy sauce 红烧肉 or salted pork (a good 50% of which was fat or skin). Since getting there before 9am, my toes had gone numb, despite two pairs of socks and long thermal underwear, something I’d never don even on -30 C days in Canada.

Having finished supper we waited around a little to wait for my father-in-law to drive a few guests home (he being one of the few around with a car) and then we took off, without ceremony or farewells. It was about 5:30pm. Never been to a wedding over that early, but then again, I’ve never been to one that started so early either, besides my own. I feel lucky to have been to a wedding in the countryside, as most of us foreigners only get invited to wedding banquets held in nice hotels in downtown Shanghai. It gave me an interesting new perspective on it.

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And so it comes again, the beginning of a new Chinese lunar calendar. And with it, fresh gales from the North, as if Siberia itself was bearing down on us here in Shanghai. 春节, Spring Festival, is a misnomer in my opinion. Every year it’s unspeakably cold for this region, and though in Canada, 1-4 degrees Celsius is spring, in Shanghai it is freezing.

Every year my wife and I go out to Fengxian district where her relatives live to eat, visit, eat, play mahjong, eat… you get the picture. But with most people in Shanghai still living a traditional lifestyle as much as possible, we end up basically staying outside for three or four days. Cold outside? No problem, open the windows. Just make sure to drink extra strong 白酒 Baijiu to stay warm. Close the door, you say? No way! How could anyone feel welcome if we always have the door shut? Drink some hot tea and you’ll be fine. Though we may be indoors, the temperature is the same as outside. Never mind that old people’s hands have swollen up from years of working in the cold and washing vegetables with cold water in the middle of winter. People (but not me) forget the cold amidst family and good friends, eating, and well-wishing on a new year full of money and good health.

Actually money has an important position in the language of Chinese New Year. There are many expressions involving fortune coming your way, 红包 hongbaos, and of course there is the fifth day of the new year (and the night before) when almost as many fireworks and firecrackers are set off to attract the attention of the Chinese god of money. Godless communists? No way. Not when it comes to festivals, weddings, babies, money and health.

This year CNY is going to drown out Valentines’ Day in China. Totally and completely. Flower prices will still be high, but the youth of the nation won’t be able to get away from home for a date on 初一, New Years’ Day, the most important ‘family time’ of the year. Valentines’ has been really catching on the last few years in Shanghai as girls demand that their local boyfriends put out (as in money) as much as Western boyfriends do on Feb. 14th. Not sure if it’s receiprocated. Shops and restaurants quickly foresaw the potential for money making and instantly ruined it all with blue roses and hello kitty gifts. So the odds are good that St. Val can withstand this year’s fireworks and mount a comeback in 2011.

Anyway, I shouldn’t rag on CNY. It’s a fantastic holiday; I just wish it was warmer. Spring has not quite come to this part of the world. Hopefully it’s right around the corner.

This year is the year of the Tiger. I am not a Tiger, but many Chinese people who are will wear red underwear during this year in order to avoid back luck. Apparently in the Chinese zodiac of 12 years, the sign you were born on is actually bad luck. I was born in the year of the snake, so every snake year (1989, 2001, 2013, etc.) is supposed to be bad luck for me. Funny but I hadn’t noticed. Anyway, red is a lucky color in China, but to wear red everyday would be a little much. So people buy and wear red underwear as much as possible during their unlucky year, because the good luck of the red and the bad luck of their zodiac sign cancel each other out. Make sense? A lot of people will also wear special clothes for the New Year’s feast, usually held on 除夕, Spring Festival Eve. Often their tops are red. Kind of like Christmas sweaters.

Ok, the CNY ramble has run its course. Time to get on the bus to hit the back country. For all those in Puxi, watch a great show tomorrow night. And see this for the Beijing equivalent. I’ll certainly get a good show out in Fengxian, just not quite as intense.

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone.

Feds

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My wife got the idea a few weeks back to check out a Shanghai Sharks game this season. I hadn’t been to a basketball game here in probably five years. The buddies I went with before have long since left China, and I guess I just never paid much attention to the local Chinese Basketball Association.

However, things have changed. The hapless Sharks of five years ago are now a strong team with super-charged fans. We went last Friday night, and though it was just a regular season matchup with Tianjin, the fans were pumped. They played Queen’s “We Will Rock You” twice before the game even started! There were quite a few scalpers outside, and only about 50 or so empty seats during the game. Cheer leaders fed the frenzy, and volunteers gave out inflatable batons that people whacked together to make some seriously loud crowd noise.

The venue itself has changed since I last saw a game, as has the team. The Sharks now roam Pudong, which I took as a bad sign at first. Banished to Pudong? That can’t be good. Nevertheless, with a relatively new arena right next to a football stadium, the team’s (relatively) new diggs are pretty decent. It’s a lot brighter inside than the old crap-factory Shanghai gymnasium that they used to play in. I remember a rather dull facility with people dressed like they were attending a politburo meeting. The crowd cheered, but the team sucked. Quite a few seats were empty. Now however, the fans are young and ready to make some noise, and the arena’s atmosphere is much better.

The seating is typical in that there is absolutely no legroom, quite similar to the buses in Shanghai, but it’s really like stadium seating with each row a lot higher than the previous one, so unless you’re behind Yao (an owner of the team now), you’ve got a good view. Curiously there are few seats at the ends of the court, and the ones they have are quite a ways back from the action. In case you’re wondering, the Shark Tank (they don’t call it that, but they should… not sure if they know about the San Jose Sharks), is nominally named 源深体育馆, Yuanshen Arena. Though officially located on Yuanshen Road, it’s actually on 桃林路, Taolin Road. I guess they state it that way so that everyone knows to go to Yuanshen Road station (line 6 just one stop from Century Avenue) in order to get there. Take exit 3 and turn right, and follow the crowds and scalpers.

The Sharks are having a successful season so far. The key reason why are three foreigners on the team and a couple of hot-shooting local boys. John Lucas (#1), a smooth shooting guard is the key to the offence, along with #33 Garret Siler, who gets down low, powers his way through the post, and loves to dunk. #23 Zaid Abbas is another fantastic player who does the rebounding, hustle work and defense. He was in foul trouble the game we watched, but has all the fundamentals. The local Chinese on the team are a mixed bunch. A couple had moves, and two or three can really shoot, but there were some rather lame players as well. #5 Meng Lingyuan 孟令源 (a starter for some reason?) can’t shoot at all and was playing rather dirty the other night, including a completely fake flop during a dead ball situation. #3 Yan Xingshu 颜行书 from Taiwan drew laughs from the crowd for passing the ball away when completely free in the key twice, and for his awful free-throw shooting, despite the two girls behind us gushing over his looks. All told however, they’re a good team.

The Sharks are not quite Sharks, however. Their new team name is 上海玛吉斯, Shanghai Majisi, which is the name of some Thai company that either owns most of the team or has some sort of sponsorship deal. (Online websites have conflicting claims over whether Yao owns the team or only a part of it.) It’s rather lame hearing the announcer chant “Ma-Ji-Si, Ma-Ji-Si” while the mascots are still sharks, and the team logo says ’sharks.’ Actually that was one of the stranger features of the CBA game. After a player scores, the announcer tries to lead the crowd in a short little chant of their name (surnames in the case of foreign talent, full names for Chinese). I thought I heard him make a sort of choking noise before a Tianjin player took a free throw. And quite often during play he was leading the chants of defense. Odd, but it kept the crowd rocking.

The Sharks dominated almost from the start and it was clear that their big men are very good, at least the starters anyway. However, aside from Lucas, they really have nothing going on at guard. He was on a roll and eventually scored over 30, but the Sharks wouldn’t have much bite if he ever got into foul trouble.

It was a good time, and worth the 40 kuai for our second-cheapest-class tickets. Not many home games left in the season, but we’ll try to go back for another.

Feds

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With the Expo looming (85 days on the sign I saw today), the construction that has consumed most of this fair city will soon cease. The air will clear up a bit, spring winds will come forth, and for about seven months between May and October Shanghai may actually become a livable city.

I think the climax of the construction must have happened around October or November. Since then many major projects have wrapped up or are in the finishing stages. Make no mistake; there is still a heck of a lot of work being done to roads, subways, new buildings, landscapes, etc. Everywhere the air is full of particulates not just from cars, but from cutting metal, plastic and glass, dust from cement mixers and sulfur from welding torches. Everywhere I go I can smell something in the air, and it’s not sweet spring dew drops. I’m pretty sure I’ve lost a year of my life having lived through some of this city’s worst growing pains since October 2003. My lungs have taken in awful quantities of construction-related pollution that this city has never bothered to admit is a problem. Nonetheless, I chose to be here, so I’ll have to live with it. But when people ask me if I would stay here and have a child, my answer is more than easy. Same reason I won’t have one in Mexico City or Cairo.

Shanghai will still have more and more re-development which means more construction. I call it redevelopment simply because most of the construction going on is the replacement of older housing stock with newer apartment towers. Unfortunately a great deal of what I see being built, to this day, are low-quality housing that is nothing but concrete, often not reinforced (as some designers recently told me). These buildings are meant to last 20 or 30 years, when they’ll be torn down and a newer, more modern building will be put up. (I’ve mentioned something like this before.) It’s extremely inefficient, but perhaps necessitated by Beijing’s (and Shanghai’s) promises of growth and quick results.

The good news is things will get better, and it’s already started. Even if it all revs up again after the Expo moves on to the next location, it’ll never be this bad again. I hope. I for one am glad the construction climax seems to have passed and am already enjoying small slices of quietude on a few streets here and there. Usually Spring Festival is a great to time be in Shanghai (save tourist and shopping hot spots like Nanjing Road and The Bund) because it empties out. There are about six million workers in Shanghai who were born somewhere else, and most of them go back home for the holiday. I’m not sure if some high-priority projects that are behind schedule will continue to be worked on during CNY, but if they’re important enough they might. Regardless, it should be a good time to walk around and begin to relish my last months living in this wonderful city. I’ve already been taking advantage of some of the new subway lines (numbers 7 and 9 pass nearby the official residence of China Segment) and the added green space may actually start helping my poor, damaged lungs.

Happy to be in Shanghai (despite my many posts cursing it),

Feds

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