Creativity and resourcefulness

Forget fake goods, copycats and all the questionable made-in-China stuff... I just love Chinese people's inventiveness to always find a way or an alternate use for the most boring things!

Goldfish jail

The condom's second shift

A shared passion

Beyond language barriers, I can always count on a glance at each other's camera, a nod and a smile when I cross paths with fellow photographers.

A sunny spring day at the botanical garden

Laundry

One of my favorite subjects when I'm out and about with my camera is laundry. Not only is it aesthetically appealing; it also gives me a glimpse into people's lives... The bright colors in ladies' underwear, the undershirts full of mended holes, the washed and reused disposable nappies, the laundered teddy bears... Every time I look up, there's a laundry scene full of household secrets unfolding in front of my eyes.

A leafy French Concession courtyard

Laundry day in the lane

His and hers

Laundry jungle

Monday's pink, Tuesday's animal print...

Quilts for tots

Bear bath day

You know you're in China when...

There are so many "only in China" images that I wouldn't know where to start. In no particular order, here's one from my most recent visit to a flea market.

... You find communist caps at the local flea market

Another "only in China" find - although I'll admit that this one would not have surprised me if I'd found it in Japan.

... Cultural taboos are depicted in the weirdest ways

To nappy or not to nappy - that is the question

I can't post pictures of toddlers without pointing out one part of their outfits that I still struggle to understand... Their nappies (or lack thereof). I still marvel every time I see a little one's bare butt exposed to the elements. Let alone the practicalities of guessing when the baby will decide to go for number one or number two and get the clothes out of the way in time. Or the hygiene factors that would keep every western mom losing sleep at night. But in winter, when kids are bundled up to the point that they can't keep their arms down - isn't it weird to have those pink butt cheeks exposed?

Chinese children are the cutest

I have a friend who has declared that the cutest people under 5 and over 70 years old are in China. (I won't repeat her comments about those who belong to the 65-year cohort in between). I haven't curated my elderly people photos yet, but I have to agree with her that just from my personal collection, the cutest toddlers are indeed in China - and even in Shanghai!

 

 

 

 

Groceries shopping

Those who haven't been to Asia or South America have probably never experienced the smells, colors and sounds of fresh produce markets. Here's a sampler of the  Shanghainese version of your trusted neighbourhood supermarket.

Fish and meat off a hole in the wall in a lane just around the corner from my home

Fishmonger

Roasted duck

The Party

I am fascinated by the Communist Party's imagery. The marketeer in me can't help wondering how much of the Party's strength and durability is owed to a beautifully and consistently executed brand identity.

Trinkets for sale in a touristy area

A hip café in Zhujiajiao

Memorabilia in a flea market in downtown Shanghai

Just for kicks, here's the imagery found in the former East Berlin... If you ask me, nowhere near the quality of its Asian couterpart.

East Berlin

Pyjama party

In every other country I've been to there's a simple fact of life: you just don't go out in your pyjamas. Depending on the country, doing so would be sloppy, unpresentable, unthinkable, or a loss of face. In Japan, for example, women apply makeup and dress up to take out the garbage, in case they might run into a neighbour while at it.

At the opposite end of the spectrum there's China, where pyjamas are not only acceptable as streetwear but actually a status symbol! Wear them to the market, when you go for a walk after dinner, when you sit out in the lane chatting with your neighbours, and your attire says: "I'm so cool (or so powerful or so rich) that I don't even need to get out of my pyjamas to go out."

Pyjama King of Bling

 

City is civilised, and life will be better

We moved to Shanghai in November 2009, when the city was frantically getting itself ready for the 2010 World Expo. Whole neighbourhoods were flattened to make room for infrastructure; roads turned into boulevards with full-grown trees in the median; carefully manicured parks appeared overnight in empty lots; facades of buildings got a fresh coat of paint (many, as is now in fashion after the XinTianDi success, with fake exposed bricks drawn on them), and the city got a new slogan for the event: "City is civilised, and life will be better". I was in a moving car when I first saw this slogan, and thought to myself that I had to come back and take a picture of it, for it really summed up the philosophy that's driving the city's dizzying metamorphosis. Aside from the meaning, I loved the poor English that showed the depth with which much of the changes are being made... "Need and English translation, quick! There you go, done!" Checking for accuracy is hardly part of the equation.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to take that picture before I went home for the Christmas break. Considering the importance of a slogan that would represent the city and the country in front of the world for at least six months, its translation somehow got edited while I was gone. By the time I got back to Shanghai, it had been revised to "Better city, better life". The same, but not really the same... I still prefer the rawness and honesty of the original.

Since that episode, I try to snap every funny "Chinglish" I find, even if it's just with my mobile phone, so you'll have to excuse the poor quality of the images here. 

At the door of a live blues bar

At City Shop, the international supermarket

At an ice cream parlor

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

Aside from the "Pearl Tower", Shanghai's #1 architectural landmark (and in my opinion, eyesore which I refuse to show in this blog), there are two amazing buildings in Shanghai's new area of Pudong which are the pride and shine of the city's skyline and the symbol of the new China. These are the Jin Mao Tower, and the Shanghai World Financial Center.

They are the tallest buildings in the city to date, and the WFC even has an observatory on top where,  smog permitting - and that permission is not to be taken for granted - the views are simply spectacular and give you a clear idea of the extent of a city of 23 million.

These stunning buildings stand side by side, and I like to think of them as the King and Queen of China's architecture (even if their occupancy rates are well below capacity thanks to unrealistic rental prices - but that's a different story).

Jin Mao (left) and WFC

These royal buildings, however, are under siege and on the verge of losing their crown. Indeed, a new building - taller than these two - is coming up next door. The Shanghainese are really excited about it. I just hope that the new development will live up to the aesthetic standards set by its immediate neighbours and not those by the Pearl Tower just down the road...

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

The modernisation of Buddhism

Another sign of progress, which I find fascinating and amusing (if perhaps not too inspiring), is the modernisation of Buddhism. These two shots are from my two most recent visits to city temples.

 

SMS of iPhone game?

Progress

"What's the progress that old lanes are making room for?", you're asking... Well, this is part of it. Overwhelming? Definitely. Inspiring? I'll leave that up to you.

View of Huangpu river and Shanghai's older neighbourhoods from Xujiahui

Lane life

Old Shanghai is quickly (and sadly) disappearing. I took these photos last year, and some of the places no longer exist. They've been demolished to make room for modernity, and their residents relocated to new developments in the suburbs. They now have more space but have largely lost their sense of community; they have running water but need to commute for two hours to reach downtown.

There's a new ailment unique to China's large cities: vertical living syndrome. This ailment develops when people who used to share small spaces in tightly packed neighbourhoods and lived in communal spaces suddenly move to multi-storey buildings and are trapped within the walls of their new spacious apartments. They open the door and there's nothing but an empty hallway. They feel lost, disconnected, depressed...

With all its shortcomings, here's a tribute to old Shanghai living.

Snacks stall

Neighbourhood market

Fresh poultry

Noodles shop

Residential lane

Teeth brushing time

Where do you get your carbs?

When I first moved to Shanghai, we hired a housekeeper (in Chinese, Ayi). She didn't speak a word of English, and I didn't speak a word of Chinese. All went well between us except any time she saw me eating, when she would shake her head and frown. One day she met Jack, our driver (who speaks English) and immediately asked him to translate a very important question she needed to ask me. She said: "At lunch she doesn't eat rice. She doesn't eat noodles. She doesn't eat steamed rolls. I'm really concerned about her health!" Jack explained that outside China people eat other things, and rice, noodles and rolls are not an everyday need. She was still shaking her head. After a bit of Chinese discussion Jack looked at me and said: "She still worries and needs to know where you get your carbs. Can I tell her that you eat bread?" She has not worried about my carbs since.

Steamed buns

Noodles

What's Shaoxing Lu, you may be wondering?

"Shaoxing" is the name of possibly the prettiest street in Shanghai. "Lu" is the Chinese word for "road". It's in the part of town that used to be the French Concession, so the architecture is typically European, the streets spacious and leafy, and the atmosphere not very Chinese at first sight. You might as well be in the Old Continent until you look inside the lanes with their hanging laundry and communal living, hear the bell of the junk collector riding his bicycle before 7am, or risk being run over by a scooter on the sidewalk or knocked over by a turning bicycle with 5 metres of bamboo sticks tied to it.

Shaoxing Lu is the old publishers row. In the old days, this street was home to many publishing houses. Today only two or three survive. In the short time I've been here, art galleries have made room for bars and cafes, the "Bureau of Censorship" has disappeared, and most other shops have undergone multiple transformations. Thankfully, Shaoxing Park, a little pocket of green filled with beautifully landscaped gardens, grandpas playing majong, grandmas exercising and toddlers playing is still unchanged.

Shaoxing Lu

Lane Life

Shaoxing Park

Bamboo on the move

Welcome to Shanghai

I could start this blog with the stereotypical image of the Pudong skyline... But to me, Shanghai is much more than modern skyscrapers overshadowing the quickly vanishing old city. That's why my first post is a mix of old and new: neon lighting on traditional wooden architecture in the touristy Yu Garden.

Keep an eye out for more Shanghai snaps to come on a regular basis.

Yu Yuan