A Foreigner’s Retrospective on Shanghai

Duration: 1 Day. Places visited: Suzhou River, Huaihai Road, Xinjinjiang Hotel, Shanghai. Published [...]

Duration: 1 Day. Places visited: Suzhou River, Huaihai Road, Xinjinjiang Hotel, Shanghai. Published on February 12, 2002, at 12:44 PM.

Traveling from the Pacific coast on a Northwest Airlines flight to Shanghai, with a layover in Tokyo, it was already late evening. The journey, spanning an entire day, made one feel a bit weary, just about to close my eyes and sink into contemplation. Hearing the domestic Mandarin accent of the flight attendant’s announcement, I immediately paid close attention to the familiar sound of kinship. American airlines are able to accommodate Chinese flight attendants. Indeed, the times are progressing, and this change is truly exciting. Recalling the ‘Northwest Airlines’ flight between Shanghai and Tokyo, aside from the Lead Flight Attendant who was American, all other flight attendants had traditionally been Singaporean Chinese.

Now, the customs at Shanghai’s airport give an impression of straightforward procedures. This is a representation of China’s openness and progress in recent years. I remember a long time ago at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, the young People’s Liberation Army ‘customs inspector’, who seemed unsophisticated, opened my luggage for inspection first. His girlfriend, who followed, carried only a small handbag. The inspector asked why she didn’t have luggage, and immediately began to inspect her handbag, which only contained her women’s underwear. The inspector took out the ‘sexy woman’s underwear’, examining and questioning it under the light for half an hour, causing his girlfriend to become anxious. Amidst the absurdity, I stepped in and said, ‘For the convenience of our journey, we put both of our luggage in one box.’ After hearing this, the customs inspector, unable to find anything suspicious, silently let us pass under the watchful eyes of the onlookers.

Presently, Shanghai has a population of over 17 million, including all transient populations. The locals originally migrated from all parts of the country and have been living in Shanghai for decades. The true Shanghainese constitute less than one percent, and if they do exist, they are descendants of the ‘Yu’ lineage. Old Shanghai residents understand some foreign terms, such as ‘Yang Pan’ for Young Boy, ‘Bie San’ for Pigs, and ‘Shui Men Ting’ as phonetic translations of foreign words. Having lived in Hong Kong for a period, I often visited Shanghai and could sense the distance from my friends through their hesitant expressions and speech. On the verge of being abandoned by my own people, just as China began to communicate with the outside world, my friends’ discourse gradually became more open. In recent years, many interesting new terms have emerged. Shanghai friends often dine and chat with Hong Kong friends, saying: We live in this ‘urban jungle’ city.

My friend from Hong Kong always found it peculiar, wondering where it was. Each visit, he would linger by the entrance of the Great World and then take a stroll along Suzhou Creek on Xizang Road. It was a mix of fulfilling an old wish and revisiting a sense of helplessness. Once, while wandering on Huaihai Road, I found myself on the second or third floor of a department store. It had been a while since I wore a ‘white-collar’ outfit, and I thought it was time to dress up. I picked up a white-collar shirt, only to find it priced at 395.00 yuan. At that time, the average monthly salary of a Shanghai resident was between 600 to 1200 yuan. Recalling my childhood, I would sit by the Suzhou Creek to read the ‘Three Character Classic’ after school, never having the chance to enter the Great World due to the tough times that led me to leave for foreign lands. A shadow of discomfort lingered in my heart, making it impossible for me to make the purchase.

As I bid farewell to Shanghai, a friend from Jiaotong University generously gifted me two boxes of ‘ONLY YOU’ products, for which I was immensely grateful for the sincerity. It was a business strategy of ‘Western tunes sung in Chinese style’. When I brought it home and passed through U.S. customs, they asked what it was. I replied, ‘A product from WISCONSIN’. They smiled at me, and I was on my way. I had no gift for the ladies in the office. I offered them the ‘ONLY YOU’ products. The ladies were indifferent at first, but when I mentioned its benefits for skincare, they eagerly asked for some.

The university gates seemed so distant to me, but recently I’ve had some time to read Chinese works. There’s a young lady from Shanghai known as ‘HELLO HELLO’ who has written several distinctive pieces. Her work has received mixed reviews in Shanghai, and at one point, it was banned. However, this unexpected turn of events instantly boosted her popularity. If she were willing to pay the price, she could leave a beautiful memory for herself, just like the Hong Kong Miss and American actress MADONNA with their ‘photobiographies’… I have loved listening to Yue Opera records since I was young. Artists like Qi Yaxian, Jin Caifeng, and Yuan Xuefen were among my favorites, but I particularly admired Meng Liying’s singing style, with its poignant and sorrowful tone.Nowadays, artists like Gao Zhigang, Qian Yali, and Fang Yafen perform, but the ticket prices are too high for the average person to afford. The era of affordable entertainment for the masses is gradually fading away.

Every time I visit Shanghai, I enjoy the local cuisine and Hangzhou dishes, which are both affordable and delicious. The locals say, ‘It’s to our taste’. Once, a friend invited me to a Western restaurant for dinner. We ordered hairy crabs, and to be honest, it was my first time eating them in a Western restaurant. The price was not cheap. I found it quite strange that the crab legs should have brownish-yellow hair, but the one I had was dark black. At that time, I wondered if perhaps they were farming in Suzhou Creek? In the evening, I went to a small restaurant on Changle Road to taste the same size hairy crabs, which were charged at only twenty-five percent of the price.

Recently, I read a Shanghai travelogue titled ‘The Inner Thoughts of a Shanghai White-collar Worker’. This article deeply resonated with me and left me feeling quite saddened. I do not understand the acronym MPA in China, but societal and economic improvements must start from the grassroots level in two aspects: 1. Early education, 2. Providing job opportunities. Welfare should not be too generous, as excessive benefits can lead to the creation of many lazy individuals who refuse to work.

Within the vast city of Shanghai, there are many unreasonable practices. If you do not believe me, please take a look at the Shanghai hotels on Ctrip’s website. The price list distinguishes between domestic and foreign guests, with a price difference of up to one hundred and fifty to three hundred and thirty yuan. Such unreasonable events, if they were to occur in a city in a different country today, I believe the hotel and the local government would be sued in court. The charge would be ‘DISCRIMINATION’, a serious offense that could lead the hotel and the local government to bankruptcy. If, from another perspective, domestic tourists had the opportunity to travel abroad and the price difference of one hundred and fifty yuan for hotels was added to domestic travelers, what would your thoughts be? I once contacted Ctrip via email regarding the distinction in prices for domestic and foreign guests. They replied, ‘Different floors.’ In other Chinese cities, hotels use different floors, views, and directions for tiered pricing, which is very clear. Why can’t big cities achieve this? It gives the impression that their practices are still stuck in old routines.

Each time I visit Shanghai, I do not seek any unique pleasures; I just want to quietly stay in an ‘old-fashioned hotel’ with a sense of nostalgia. To see a smile from the service staff, to hear them say, ‘Good morning, sir. Hello,’ is enough. A friend visited a few years ago, and we hosted him at the ‘PRINCE HOTEL’, located in front of the Yacht Club / Rated 4 Paddle. After checking in, he said, ‘The hotel is not good enough.’ The hotel is surrounded by beautiful scenery and faces the sea. There was an indescribable unpleasant smell at the time, and I said, ‘Compared to domestic hotels, then Shanghai’s ‘Huating and Xinjinjiang’ would become three-star hotels.’ I am also unclear about what standards are used to rate the star levels of domestic hotels.

Nowadays, in Shanghai, the ‘chosen ones’ of the younger generation of white-collar workers enjoy a CLASS lifestyle, favoring Starbucks COFFEE, enjoying chatting and socializing with friends there, then going to T.G.I. FRIDAY on Hengshan Road for American cuisine, or spending the evening at bars and NIGHT CLUBS on Maoming South Road, boasting and bragging. Perhaps take another self-driving tour near the scenic spots.

At a young age and with excellent knowledge, people often have a ‘nostalgia’. Facing the small bridges and flowing water in the countryside and an old house. Imagining the story content, how did the hostess in this house live inside this enclosure in the past? With a few ounces of ‘Jiafan wine, Nu’er Hong’ yellow wine. Under the moon, ‘Listen to me recount, water town sentiment’. Oh, my God! And then again, emotions surge like the tide. In the quiet of the night, with a wave of the pen, there are thousands of words of a travelogue titled ‘Under the moon in Xitang, Zhou Ya’s sentiment’. Are you convinced?

After many years as a CEO, working fifteen or sixteen hours a day, there is no time to接触 simplified Chinese characters. It’s really an inhumane life. Not something that ordinary ‘white-collar workers’ can understand. Due to the WTC incident, there has been a worldwide economic downturn. Recently, there is often time to browseI very much admire and appreciate Ctrip’s ‘wonderful writing’. They are truly the ‘vanguard’ of the country in progress. The following is a passage that I like: “I still welcome more friends to come to Shanghai, and more people to set foot in all parts of the country. At that time, what should be compared is the characteristics of different places, rather than exaggerating others’ shortcomings or magnifying one’s own strengths.”

Every time I visit ‘Chenghuang Temple’, it is still so lively. The snacks I love, such as small steamed buns, and the scenery of pavilions and towers still exist. As someone born and raised in Shanghai, I always have a sense of nostalgia.

Thank you, Ctrip, for giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts on the internet. At the same time, thank you to the ground staff of Northwest Airlines at Shanghai Airport for upgrading me to first class every time. Guilty, guilty.