Pirates of the South China Sea

There isn't a day that goes by where I don't discover a new DVD peddler along the streets of Shanghai. There is practically a peddler on every street corner. If you thought Malaysia was a pirates' haven, you obviously are behind the times.

Here's a way to put things into perspective. This past month, Transformers has been the top-grossing film in Shanghai:

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=325144&type=Metro

Now if you thought that 38.53 million yuan (US$5.09 million) was an impressive haul, let me help you reorient your mind.

http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/chinadata/shanghai.htm

Shanghai is a city of 20 million inhabitants. A movie ticket costs 80RMB (US$10.5), which means that around 500,000 people caught this season's mega-blockbuster. That's about 0.025% of Shanghai's population. The rest opted to watch it on 'HD DVD' or ' DVD9' for only 5RMB a pop. Isn't capitalism great.

Note: cinema tickets cost between 40-80RMB depending on the location of the cinema. they aren't uniformly 80RMB.

The Great Heat of China

This past week I've felt mugged. I used to imagine China as a country uniformly cool from north to south, with weather as predictable and benign as one of pavlov's puppies. Unfortunately, on a hot day in Shanghai, reality rudely busted my rosy notions of normality and robbed me of my pretty picture.

For the first time in my life, I've seen young men swagger, as well as swelter on the streets without shirts on as though it was the most normal thing in the world. Those with a stronger sense of modesty but correspondingly weaker sense of style pulled up the front of their shirt and tied it into a knot, accentuating the not-so-gentle curves of their paunch. And in this way, many a young man went about working in the furnace that is Shanghai.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=324866&type=Metro
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200707/20070723/article_324427.htm

I figure that when even the 5000 year old Chinese lunar calendar can predict Great Heat Day (23 Aug), this amazing heat wave must have been in the weather workshop of Mother Nature for millenia. At this point, I must admit that for a 5000 year old project in the making, Great Heat Day is a little underwhelming.

I'd love to write more now, but I'm suffering from what I define as some sort of mild heat stroke and wouldn't get any further than sweating unnecessarily over my keyboard. I'll be back soon with a post and shots of my office and colleagues as soon as the weather cools enough so that the Shanghai skyline doesn't look like a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland from the window.

Enter the Patrix!

I saw this in the subway. As far as I can tell its short for "The Paper Matrix". Imagine Keanu Reeves as drawn by a Japanese manga artist with a goth fetish and you'll have a pretty good idea of the rest of the artwork on display. Anytime I see the cartoon characters of the Patrix and have my trusty IXUS 400 with me, I'll take a few shots at them. I'm looking forward to seeing Neo and Agent Smith go at each other like the Happy Tree Friends.

the view from the home away from home & ping pong

This is the continuation of the previous post. Here's the view from the balcony from the living room. If you think the picture looks a little dusty, that's because it is. The camera that I have has a slight red tint and photos tend to look dark. Because of that, the photo looks rather awful. However, the apartment is really not bad despite the photo. However, I'm disappointed that a place that looks so good doesn't have a gym, tennis courts or even a swimming pool. All we have is a single, wimpy ping pong table. It must be a nationwide conspiracy to produce only world class ping pong players. When was the last time you heard of a world class Chinese bodybuilder, tennis player or swimmer? I'll bet a long time ago the Sports Minister met with the City planning department for a nice chat and it went like this.

Sports M: I've been thinking, we need a national sport.
City Pln: How about bodybuilding?
Sports M: No my doctor says I should avoid heavy exercise, its bad for the balance of my qi.
City Pln: What happened to the western doctor you hired last year?
Sports M: He told me to buy a treadmill, so I sent him to the national baked beans and onion workers' union colorectal clinic.
City Pln: That's tough. Why don't you choose a sport you're good at for the national sport. That would make your public appearances more exciting, especially if you play for the cameras.
Sports M: Thats true! I love ping pong!
City Pln: That's a sissy sport.
Sports M: But I like it!!
City Pln: Wait, I may have an idea...

and thus my apartment was born.

The home away from home

Welcome to Shanghai. This is the first post from the apartment in 中山公园. In the picture is the man with the cool name. Its Skye, Skye Yu. I know it doesn't have the same ring as Bond but its Shanghai, not London. Skye is enjoying the benefits of a broadband package that costs 1000RMB per year. (That's a mere 200SGD to the uninitiated) If I weren't being paid in RMB i'd say thats an outrageous offer. I smell subsidies, but then thats a post for another day.

Pre Departure blues

 

This is the living room in my home. I took the photo while fiddling with the camera but I decided to upload the photo anyway. Home is my anchor, my reference point and mostly, its where the heart is. Cliche, but cliches have their roots in some truth. The next photo you'll see will be the living room in the apartment in Shanghai.
Cheers!