Ten things I learned about life in Shanghai
During a recent trip to Shanghai, China I discovered what my cousin Sina Farzaneh, an American-Iranian expat who's lived here for a decade and launched a successful company called Pullpath (he has gamified customer engagement, really cool stuff), has qualified "the other world." It's not "another" world but "the" other world.
China is that country that most Westerners don’t get to see in their lifetime but might, as I did, variously feel feelings of admiration, resentment, respect, threat from, irony, anger, amazement and wonder. Discovering China’s Shanghai, a vast metropolis that stretches for miles and is anchored by Pudong’s Financial District and its many business towers, caused me to feel humility, a sense of awe. There was I, the product of civilizations that gave the world the Sistine Chapel, Damian Hirst, a band from Switzerland called Yello, the iPhone, the Michelin guide. Judeo-Christian culture was all I had ever known and yet, the path toward achieving a more balanced picture of the world had gotten broke open wide.
Here are ten things I learned while I was in Shanghai:
NO ENGLISH? PLEASE? The Shanghainese don't feel the need to adapt to Western tourists. Mostly because Shanghai was never about the tourism dollar (or euro, in my case). You can count the number of the city’s sight-seeing stops on the fingers of one hand. Shanghai is known as a financial center, a business hub where entrepreneurship thrives, people make money and they’re happy.
When visiting this city get ready to be dragged kicking and screaming out of your comfort zone. As a Western tourist I felt like the lonesome cowboy on the range, forever doomed to look (and not find) stuff: in my case, a flask of hot sauce (because the local cuisine is not spicy), a tie (the small clothing stores in and around the French Concession district don’t necessarily have them) and a Shanghai guidebook (bookstores may just be a thing of the past here), eventually giving up until my cousin, the aforementioned Sina, all tranquility and poise, shepherded us to a bookstore nearby.
For the English-only speaker communicating is fraught with peril in Shanghai. Regulation signage at the back of taxis, signs in many retail establishments in busy areas, are in Mandarin only. Subway displays, on the other hand, are in other languages, as are street signs. I had communication and miscommunication issues during my entire stay here, as the Chinese make little to no effort to speak English with you. And that’s O.K. I guess.
FOODING
Chinese cuisine is a little different here from what we're used to in Harlem or Rockville, Maryland or Paris, Avenue de CHOISY. No Kung-pao beef or General Tso's chicken to be had in Shanghai. Instead, a vast assortment of bold and magnificent dishes on offer, including the famous sea cucumber dish (recommended for the advanced-level foodie only).
(N.B: Habanero lover beware, Shanghainese cuisine is not spicy, so, if you need to get your spicy kick visit one of the local szechuanese or hainanese establishments. Or bring a bottle of tabasco sauce with you on your journey).
SHANGHAI IN A HURRY
According to some friends locally, the Chinese are very impatient people (as a former New Yorker, I get that). Hurriedness is all over the streets, which the Chinese ride on on electrical scooters. They don’t stop on red, they’ll go the wrong way, wear no helmet and at night, don’t even ask me about working headlights (which in the U.S. and France are required even during the day). There are none to speak of. And yet, there’s an ordered beauty to this chaos. I haven’t witnessed a single accident, not even close, and people are hyperaware of each other. On the sidewalk, things aren’t much better, the Shanghainese (and expats, I’m talking to you) will also use them to get to where they need to go, as long as they’re saving time.
As an aside, I am studying to take my French driving license exam (a crucible filled with trick questions and an obscene amount of the pettiest signals-related material) so imagine my (bitter) amusement when I watched the Chinese going the wrong way down the street, without a helmet, no headlight on and checking their smartphone—sometimes all at once.
I also saw expressions of real boredom here. During my time in Shanghai, I found many people hunched over their smartphones (some were so hunched over them that they had fallen asleep), watching videos, texting on WeChat (China’s answer to Facebook and Twitter) and talking, while engrossed in various other activities. The smartphone is a vital organ to any of us but to the Chinese, it’s a second palm to read, a no holds-barred approach to instant communication and entertainment.
Another indicator that things in Shanghai need to move fast and efficent is the QR code. The city’s landscape is wall-to-wall stitched with those familiar squares, from ads on buses to social media callouts in banners and photos (when you open a WeChat account you get your own QR code immediately), phone, photo booths, metro stations. Even the street vendor who’d rigged his two-hundred year-old bike with a peanut roster and kitchen equipment to make some cash has a QR code on his ad banner display.
TAXIS DON’T STOP ANYMORE, CITY BIKES
Good luck hailing a cab, you hear? In Shanghai Uber and taxis are one and the same, chalk it to an oriental sort of pragmatism? While I was here taxis stopped only one out of five times (super frustrating when you’ve been walking around for hours and you’re just trying to get back to your hotel). But it’s not just me, Unsavvy Western Tourist. Even our hotel portier was met with the same indifference when hailing a cab for us. This is, presumably, because taxis are increasingly committed to Uber, and would prefer to remain available for an Uber call rather than pick up people in the street.
Instead of taking a cab, visitors to this beautiful city can rent a scooter, or get on the new city bikes program: there are no stations to lock your bike up at. Instead, an electronic lock jamming the back-wheel can be deactivated by flashing the QR code on the bike with a smartphone dedicated app. Leave the bike anywhere!
CIVILITY
There is very little mendicity or littering in Shanghai and the ubiquitous graffitis that pollute our own metropolises are notably absent here. Strangers eagerly strike up conversations with one another, and if you protest after getting shoved out of the way (remember, no private space), you will get an acknowledgment back.
NO INSECURITIES
The Shanghainese have no—or at least, they do not show them—complexes vis-à-vis other cultures. They don’t need to. They live in the second most populous country in the world. And while they often are impassive in person, they can quickly warm up to strangers and laugh and talk loudly, displaying in earnest a human warmth that you don’t see in Europe or in the U.S. I sensed a certain purity in them. Points for the Chinese!
THE LAND OF NO TIPPING
Gratuities are not expected, at least not in Shanghai. Whether you at the restaurant or getting out of the cab, once you've paid the bill, you’re outta here!
THE OTHER CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS
In Shanghai, a city of 24 million, eateries and shops are opened and filled with people at all hours of the day. This city is constantly moving and the Shanghainese do not like to go hungry, apparently. How they manage to remain so thin remains unknown. Must be something in the water supply.
FOOD & BAIJU
The availability of food and alcohol in plentiful quantities is very important. In this regard the Chinese reminded me of the Russians—yet the cliché of Russians drinking everyone under the table and eating until their belly explodes suddenly appears out of touch and irrelevant. The Chinese, who make a kind of rice wine called Baiju, can compete with the best of ‘em in terms of joyful, cacophonous drinking and feasting on thirty plus course-meals. I was invited to a wedding dinner party during my stay in Shanghai and several other meals, before and after it. I sat at big, round tables, the familiar lazy susan holding sway in the middle, and indulged in the constant visual rat-tat-tat of bite-size dishes being delivered to the table, the tastes and fragrances, the frequent toasts to the sound of “Ganbei” and thought, the Chinese know how to party (much to your honor, good people of China. Much to your honor).
CLICHES, THEY’RE NOT ALWAYS TRUE
I don’t know if this was just Shanghai, but, coming from Paris, where every other person is apparently intent on annihilating the human race through smoking, the Shanghainese just really don’t smoke all that much. Who hasn’t seen the images of platoons of Chinese people on bikes, going to work, and smoking cigarettes? Few platoons of bikers here, no cigarettes.
ABOUT ME: I am the founder of SENSEI, a Paris-based talent management & PR agency (www.senseiagency.com). Current roster of artists includes Asia Argento, Galina Cusnir (Lina K), Alex Hughes (Sonda), Caroline Roelands, Maziar Moradi, Onionz and Johnny Azari. I’ve visited and/or lived in the Czech Republic, Iran, Egypt, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, England, Canada, Brazil and the U.S. I’m on WeChat now. My handle is: paristalkie
Sina Farzaneh launched Advocacy, his first company, in Shanghai. Advocacy is now operating in multiple countries. His latest venture, Pullpath, was started here, too (more information at: www.pullpath.com)
My recommendations:
Accommodations
City Hotel Shanghai: 5-7 Shaanxi Road (not everyone can afford the Fairmont Peace Hotel, by The Bund, or the Ritz-Carlton, and yet, with its sprawling swimming-pool, generous breakfast buffet, beautiful views of the city and central location and impeccable service, turns out you really don’t need to. This’ll do just fine).
Dining
Lost Heaven (Silk Road), 2/3F, no. 758 Julu Road: every dish is based on foods from countries that are on the old Silk road. After a visit to this brand-new location in the French Concession come downstairs to the bar for some post-dinner drinks (just don’t show up past your reservation time, it’s frowned upon here).
Lynn, 99-1 Xi Kang Road : Bottomless pitchers of freshly-squeezed watermelon juice, anyone? Tasty dishes in an elegant setting.
Jiu Jiu Di Shui Dong: Mao Ming Road, No. 56 (near Changle Road). This was like entering the promised land. A casual eatery that includes many private rooms, Di Shui Dong features szechuan and hainanese cuisine, where the spicy stuff comes from. Finally got a three-alarm fire in my mouth and for that, Jiu Jiu, I say xiexie ni! (thank you!)
Shopping
Frank’s Store, 1F No. 1 Lane 393, Julu Road, caught my eye. Think the Ralph Lauren vintage and Levis vintage shops of New York City, with a considerable selection of motorcycle boots.
Make sure to also visit the Tianzifang district, a pedestrians-only, labyrinthine maze of shops and boutiques where you can pick up cheap souvenirs, arts and crafts and also some high-quality casual and traditionalwear
Art
Shanghai Museum (bronze sculptures, ceramics and a collection of seals, among others, going back several centuries before Christ). I didn’t include a stop at the museum in this article just to sound righteous. This is an essential stop on your visit, especially if you’re only in Shanghai briefly. I went to this Museum on my last day in China, and yet, the Shanghai Museum should be first on your to-do list. It’s the gateway to discovering this exquisite and fascinating land that is China, a country that I cannot wait to visit again.