Shanghai
"This place is as hip as L.A. aspires to be."
So said my friend Nick as we sat at an upscale bar in the Xintiandi district of Shanghai. The main streets are a playground for China's new rich. Bars, sushi, Starbucks, Orange Julius, Prada, Gucci, all here.
The back streets are another story. Narrow alleys between old wooden houses and overhung with laundry on bamboo poles, old men drinking tea at the bird market, and construction cranes looming around every corner. Old Shanghai is still there, but not for long.
Starbucks and Dairy Queen in the heavily touristed Yuyuan Gardens. OK, so I got a banana split. So what?
Behind the glitz of the main streets Old Shanghai is still hanging on. The high-rise in the background hints at things to come.
Bamboo vendor provides the raw materials that keep Shanghai's laundry dry.
Bamboo at work. Keeping Shanghai's shoes clean and dry.
During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s pins depicting the Great Leader were worn like badges. Mao's Red Guards acted as Thought Police, enforcing arbitrary morality on the masses. Now their paraphernalia is up for sale. Across the street a shop sold bondage videos.
Porcelain figure of Red Guard with captured counter-revolutionary. These days no one in China likes to remember or talk about the Cultural Revolution. But they have no problems making a profit from it. Revolution for sale.
Shanghai men get to cruise around town in silk jammies. Lucky.
These guys bring their birds to the market everyday so the birds can talk to each other. Spending the day drinking tea and smoking cigarettes has nothing to do with it.
Crazy old Chinese drunk I hung out with while eating a bowl of cold wantons with sesame sauce. "I'm old man," he said in broken English. "Tomorrow die." Excuse me? "Tomorrow DIE!" Uh, nice to meet you.
So said my friend Nick as we sat at an upscale bar in the Xintiandi district of Shanghai. The main streets are a playground for China's new rich. Bars, sushi, Starbucks, Orange Julius, Prada, Gucci, all here.
The back streets are another story. Narrow alleys between old wooden houses and overhung with laundry on bamboo poles, old men drinking tea at the bird market, and construction cranes looming around every corner. Old Shanghai is still there, but not for long.
Starbucks and Dairy Queen in the heavily touristed Yuyuan Gardens. OK, so I got a banana split. So what?
Behind the glitz of the main streets Old Shanghai is still hanging on. The high-rise in the background hints at things to come.
Bamboo vendor provides the raw materials that keep Shanghai's laundry dry.
Bamboo at work. Keeping Shanghai's shoes clean and dry.
During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s pins depicting the Great Leader were worn like badges. Mao's Red Guards acted as Thought Police, enforcing arbitrary morality on the masses. Now their paraphernalia is up for sale. Across the street a shop sold bondage videos.
Porcelain figure of Red Guard with captured counter-revolutionary. These days no one in China likes to remember or talk about the Cultural Revolution. But they have no problems making a profit from it. Revolution for sale.
Shanghai men get to cruise around town in silk jammies. Lucky.
These guys bring their birds to the market everyday so the birds can talk to each other. Spending the day drinking tea and smoking cigarettes has nothing to do with it.
Crazy old Chinese drunk I hung out with while eating a bowl of cold wantons with sesame sauce. "I'm old man," he said in broken English. "Tomorrow die." Excuse me? "Tomorrow DIE!" Uh, nice to meet you.
posted by TRippe at 4:18 AM
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