Shanghai VI
Oct 1 is China's national holiday, like the 4th of July in the US. Commemoration of the "liberation" of China.
We went to the Shanghai museum on Friday, which was interesting. It's not possible for me to appreciate the calligraphy, which is not just about the aesthetics of the rendering but the meaning, and without the meaning, I can only say "wow, that looks cool".
One of our tour guides ("Barbara") took us through the museum. I caught a few subtle sayings that were quite interesting to hear. One was reference to what we in the West call the 1949 "revolution" as "liberation". I think "Opium War"was "European War". More important to note who we were fighting than why. Reinforces Chinese experience of suffering at the hands of invading barbarians. "Tibetians" are a "Chinese minority group".
On the night of Friday Sept 31 we set out to see some of the local celebration. Caught a taxi to the Bund (old European center). My classmate (1st Generation Chinese-American) joked that I was about to see more Chinese people in one place than I had ever seen in my entire life. He was right.
Much like the 4th of July on the Esplanade in Boston, the streets had been blocked off and there were thousands of people everywhere. My two classmates and I briskly made our way through the crowd of people with sparklers, flashing light buttons and giant inflatable pummeling weapons. Yes, giant inflatable pummeling weapons. Like giant mallets, and clubs and maces and the like. People whack each other with them, I guess to re-enact the violence of the day in history. Yay, mob violence! Go team proletariat!
I noticed that, unlike my experience in other crowds of feeling closed in and cramped, here I could see everything. I realized that this is because at 6’1”, I’m in the 99th percentile for height.
Among the inflatable objects being sold were Red-White-and-Blue, Stars-and-Stripes styled cowboy hats. "George Bush" hats.
My classmates and I hatched a scheme over dinner to put me in the hat and charge people to take pictures with me. Yes, the people in Shanghai have seen a white guy before. But on the holiday, the villagers travel in, and many of them haven't seen a white dude.
It was a good idea.
We met my classmate's friends who had grown up with him in San Jose but were now living and working here. I and my Israeli classmate ate Asian food. The three Chinese-American guys, on the Chinese national holiday all ate Hamburgers.
Emphasis on the American in Chinese-American. My classmate told the class the story of his family, how his branch escaped to Taiwan and then the US while his uncle remained behind and was forced to work at a labor camp for ten years and forgo university. His uncle taught himself by reading science magazines, so that when the universities re-opened, he was admitted. He lost ten years of his life and all his worldly goods along with the opportunity to visit family far away because the communists took over.
So not everyone is celebrating "liberation". Some are eating Hamburgers.
Next Oct 1, I'll raise a burger and think of J's family. We don't do everything right in the US, and you can sure get in trouble for voicing unpopular beliefs, such as that church and state should be separate, religious fundamentalists cause war or that evolution is a scientific fact. But it’s not communist China. America, fuck yeah!
I didn't do nearly the shopping that my classmates did. But I did take advantage of the gross currency undervaluation, and I went to the textile market with classmates to have some shirts custom made.
I'll take some pictures when I get home, but needless to say, these are very very nice.
If I had more time, I'd have had the guy who made my new favorite shirt make me several more. But since I can't do that, I'll do this:
If you want to have some FANTASTIC custom tailoring done for you in Shanghai, go see
We went to the Shanghai museum on Friday, which was interesting. It's not possible for me to appreciate the calligraphy, which is not just about the aesthetics of the rendering but the meaning, and without the meaning, I can only say "wow, that looks cool".
One of our tour guides ("Barbara") took us through the museum. I caught a few subtle sayings that were quite interesting to hear. One was reference to what we in the West call the 1949 "revolution" as "liberation". I think "Opium War"was "European War". More important to note who we were fighting than why. Reinforces Chinese experience of suffering at the hands of invading barbarians. "Tibetians" are a "Chinese minority group".
On the night of Friday Sept 31 we set out to see some of the local celebration. Caught a taxi to the Bund (old European center). My classmate (1st Generation Chinese-American) joked that I was about to see more Chinese people in one place than I had ever seen in my entire life. He was right.
Much like the 4th of July on the Esplanade in Boston, the streets had been blocked off and there were thousands of people everywhere. My two classmates and I briskly made our way through the crowd of people with sparklers, flashing light buttons and giant inflatable pummeling weapons. Yes, giant inflatable pummeling weapons. Like giant mallets, and clubs and maces and the like. People whack each other with them, I guess to re-enact the violence of the day in history. Yay, mob violence! Go team proletariat!
I noticed that, unlike my experience in other crowds of feeling closed in and cramped, here I could see everything. I realized that this is because at 6’1”, I’m in the 99th percentile for height.
Among the inflatable objects being sold were Red-White-and-Blue, Stars-and-Stripes styled cowboy hats. "George Bush" hats.
My classmates and I hatched a scheme over dinner to put me in the hat and charge people to take pictures with me. Yes, the people in Shanghai have seen a white guy before. But on the holiday, the villagers travel in, and many of them haven't seen a white dude.
It was a good idea.
We met my classmate's friends who had grown up with him in San Jose but were now living and working here. I and my Israeli classmate ate Asian food. The three Chinese-American guys, on the Chinese national holiday all ate Hamburgers.
Emphasis on the American in Chinese-American. My classmate told the class the story of his family, how his branch escaped to Taiwan and then the US while his uncle remained behind and was forced to work at a labor camp for ten years and forgo university. His uncle taught himself by reading science magazines, so that when the universities re-opened, he was admitted. He lost ten years of his life and all his worldly goods along with the opportunity to visit family far away because the communists took over.
So not everyone is celebrating "liberation". Some are eating Hamburgers.
Next Oct 1, I'll raise a burger and think of J's family. We don't do everything right in the US, and you can sure get in trouble for voicing unpopular beliefs, such as that church and state should be separate, religious fundamentalists cause war or that evolution is a scientific fact. But it’s not communist China. America, fuck yeah!
I didn't do nearly the shopping that my classmates did. But I did take advantage of the gross currency undervaluation, and I went to the textile market with classmates to have some shirts custom made.
I'll take some pictures when I get home, but needless to say, these are very very nice.
If I had more time, I'd have had the guy who made my new favorite shirt make me several more. But since I can't do that, I'll do this:
If you want to have some FANTASTIC custom tailoring done for you in Shanghai, go see
Chen Tao, Designer
At the Shanghai DongJiaDu Textile Cloth Market (118 DongJiaDu Road) in stall number 124.
At the Shanghai DongJiaDu Textile Cloth Market (118 DongJiaDu Road) in stall number 124.
He also does suits. My shirt is beautiful, and I chose striped material, and he made the lines look AMAZING. The stitching looks very very good, though I'll let my sister-in-law be the judge of that.
Another thing about China that puzzles the crap out of me: Bare-assed babies. Seems babies are toted around bare-assed. Baby clothes are ass-less. If you're not potty trained, you get no ass in your pants. Perhaps there's a level of pragmatism to this that I don't recognize, but it seems to me that having no barrier between an infant's nether regions and the outside world leads to "unsanitary conditions". There's gotta be some rational reason for the practice, but I can't seem to identify it.
posted by Kenneth at 2:30 PM
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