The Shanghai Event

4 Days ago . . .

It has been a long time since I was on an international business class flight. Things have certainly changed: You now get to enjoy a cozy little private living pod for your 15 hour flight. There is a 16-inch LCD screen (which is bigger than my laptop), a fold-flat bed, a 6-way adjustable leather headrest, and an optional iPod connector. Luckily I read the user manual or I might have missed the fact that the armrest collapsed into the base of the seat to provide a wider flat surface. Even with these improvements, the entertainment system rebooted while I was in the middle of watching “The A-Team”. (It was Windows 98: no surprise there for a loyal Linux/Mac user).

5 Hours ago . . .

My jet lag is finally getting a little better - Woke up at 7 AM on Sunday morning instead of 5 AM the day before and 3:30 AM the days before that. Am I finally adjusting to the time difference or could it be that I was exhausted from walking around for 8 hours at the World Expo the previous day?

2 Days ago . . .

After work on Friday, I decided I should explore the Shanghai subway system and do some reconnaissance at one of the fake goods markets. The Metro is very impressive. It reminds me of the Hong Kong MTR but that system has only 6 lines. In Shanghai, there are 13 not including the magnetic levitation (the Maglev) train which takes you to the airport. The Metro system is extremely clean and mobile phone service is available everywhere, even on the trains themselves so there is no need to go through Crackberry withdrawal. The one thing that takes some getting used to is the lack of personal space. In any type of crowded situation, one must be prepared to be pushed, squeezed, bumped, and breathed on. As I headed upstairs to exit the platform, a middle-aged woman elbowed me in the ribs while she chatted away on her HTC droid cell phone and the old man behind me jabbed his cane into my hip. I felt like one of the Three Stooges except there were 100 of us trying to squeeze onto the same escalator.

Shanghai Science & Technology Museum Metro stop

When I got off the subway, I was amazed to see lines and lines of stalls as soon as I exited. This was not the same kind of street market that I remembered from my old China days. It has evolved now into a bright, multi-story, indoor market with small shops selling everything from Diesel shoes, Uggs, Lacoste shirts, and Prada bags to Gucci glasses, Cartier watches, Callaway golf clubs, and Prince tennis racquets. The shopkeepers are quick and smooth now. Their English is good and they will pounce on any lingering glance. As I walked by the golf shop, the young girl could sense my interest and asked me what brand I use. As soon as I said “Ping” she immediately asked “G15 or Rapture?” and gently led me into the shop to show me a catalog - I have yet to decide whether a knock-off metal stick will be able to handle my wicked slice.

I was a bit surprised that there was nobody peddling DVD’s. On previous trips I had found them to be ubiquitous but, from what I heard on this visit, there was a major crackdown on certain activities due to the Expo. At one point when I was pressured to look at some watches, I asked them if they knew where I could get DVD’s. The shopkeeper then called over her brother who took me to a secret backroom. He went to an LV bag in the corner and pulled out the black plastic bags where they had stashed the movies. However, their selection was not good and I still needed to rediscover my bargaining skills.

15 Hours ago . . .

It was a long week of traveling and adjusting so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the MLB World Series was airing on ESPN. Of course it was on at 7 PM local time (4 AM in San Francisco) so I would have to be sure to avoid reading any news during the day that might contain sports scores. Although the NY Yankees choked (and I am really not interested in who wins), it was a nice way of feeling connected to home. Unfortunately, there was no High Definition in my serviced apartment so the picture was so blurry that I might as well have watched without my glasses on. Although I was hopeful when I found out the apartment had international television, the HBO here is like a timewarp from the 1990’s and they show movies where Bruce Willis still had hair. I also found out the hard way that Hulu (a popular US TV site) and Netflix (online movies) will not stream here due to legal issues. I should not be surprised but I did think it was strange that Picasa (Google's picture sharing site) is also blocked. However, being a resourceful, innovative American, I have worked around these issues with eztv.it and Snapfish. I can still keep up with The Event, Glee, Boardwalk Empire, and all my other guilty pleasures. On a coworker’s suggestion, I am also looking for Californication Season 1 and 2 to help pass the time at night but the DVD hunt is still underway.

1 Day ago . . .

I was blessed with beautiful blue skies

On my first Saturday in Shanghai I went to the World Expo. October 30 was the last day for public admittance so I joined 500,000 other people to enjoy the sights. I am not sure why everyone in the office worried about me finding a ticket. They said it was sold-out and, after calling several official ticket agencies, eventually I desperately walked into the Westin hotel and asked the Concierge if he could help me. Although I was not a guest of the hotel, he was nice and sold me an entrance pass. When I got to the Expo there were hundreds of scalpers outside so it probably would not have been a problem – Still, it’s probably better to get it from a 5-star hotel as they will try to copy almost anything here! The Expo was truly impressive and the architecture of the pavilions was fun and creative. However, getting inside the pavilions was another story and I was not about to waste several hours of my life standing in line. Any Brit would be proud that the longest queue of the day was at the UK Pavilion, maxing out at 6 hours. I only went into a handful of the not-so-popular ones which had a 15-20 minute wait. I checked out Nepal (since a friend of mine was spending the next few weeks in the Himalayas), Chile (pretty cool display and they even had something on the rescued miners), Slovenia (or was it Slovakia? – anyway, nothing too memorable), Cuba (very lame), Venezuela (kind of artsy), and Norway (cool building and fun displays). Luckily, one of my friends had told me to bring my passport so I did not have to wait at the USA pavilion. Thank goodness! I would have been pissed if I had waited 2 hours to get inside just to watch some videos of Kobe Bryant saying “ni hao”, ‘hello’ in Chinese. It was very disappointing and, from what I hear, the USA pavilion was one of the 2nd tier pavilions when compared to the much cooler UK, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Saudia Arabia, UAE, and Australia ones.

The clouds parted: let there be beer!

At one point, I needed a break and to my delight stumbled upon a China Porterhouse Brewing Company restaurant outside the Ireland Pavilion (of course). I ordered a microbrew and a Chinese beef stew lunch box to rest and refuel. I started chatting with the Irish bartender since I had not spoken English all day and he was telling me that everything would be bulldozed in about two weeks. I remember reading that some of the larger concert halls and theaters had future plans but apparently everything else would be demolished. It is amazing how efficient the Chinese are with infrastructure projects. In stark contrast, I think about the ‘blue bridge to nowhere’ in Weehawken, New Jersey, across the street from the Ferry Terminal. It has been there for about 6 years now but is still missing a staircase to connect it to the sidewalk so it is useless. I suppose the efficiency makes up for a lack of innovation. Just take a look at all the knock-off brand names: Panosonic, Fuma, Nite sneakers, and Birkinstick sandals to name a few. It also helps to have a 1.2 billion strong workforce. There are so many people here that literally on every other corner there is someone sweeping the streets and picking up garbage. In the office building, at every entrance there is a white-gloved guard who points me to the elevator. We have turnstiles for security and I have been watching the guard there: he gives a welcome gesture to everyone who comes in to wait for an elevator. The one thing they could probably use more of is taxis. I do not recall it ever being this hard to hail a cab but the problem should hopefully subside once the Expo concludes. In the mornings, it can take up to 15 minutes for the lobby to call a cab and, on my second day here, they told me to go out to the street as I might have a better shot there. Even when I reserve a taxi the night before it could still take 10 minutes. This can be stressful when I have to get into the office for early meetings so I really hope the situation improves next week.

Notes: This article is satirically named after the hit American television show which utilizes a strange and inconsistent chronological storytelling format, a narrative technique called ‘retroversions’ according to Wikipedia.

Henry Su recently returned to New York City after a 2 month short-term assignment in Shanghai. He is an ABC (American-born Chinese) who jumped at the opportunity to spend time back in the motherland. For more information on the author, please visit: henrysu.blogspot.com.

The article was originally published on the Moving to China blog. You can find the original here.