Category: China

Just came across an article in the Los Angeles Times from two weeks ago by Christopher Hawthorne about Shanghai.

There is no view in the world quite like it. The skylines of Hong Kong and Rio may be perched on the edge of more dramatic natural locations. European capitals may have deeper collections of architectural masterpieces. But only in Shanghai can you see unfettered 21st century ambition facing off as dramatically against the early 20th century version.

Hawthorne goes on to describe having dinner at a private club called the Yong Foo Elite — coincidentally, it’s where we had dinner in Shanghai on March 1st.

The club fills an entire compound, really, centered on a 1930s villa that once held the British Consulate. The interior has been impeccably restored, its cracked, dark-stained wood now gleaming and the central garden beautifully landscaped. But what makes it pitch perfect is the effortless way it mixes elements of Western and Eastern design: Chinese lanterns, for example, hanging from a magnolia tree and illuminating the neoclassical details of the villa’s facade.

The club is a wonderful setting for a traditional Shanghai dinner — but watch out for the maotai!

I’m heading for Boston this morning (brrr!) for a couple of days.

Update: I finished reading Mr. China on the flight to Boston earlier today. Great book — see this review in Time.com’s online edition.

I got out for a walk around Shanghai a bit yesterday afternoon.

This is actually a pretty quiet city — I think the electric bikes/mopeds have a lot to do with that. Here, there are none of those smoky, sputtering mopeds found in other cities. There are lots of regular bikes everywhere of course — but some of the electric models are pretty cool cruising along in silence.

The taxi drivers are all maniacs — but aren’t they everywhere? Cabs here are typically smallish VW sedans — I have to pretty much peel myself out of them when we arrive!

Shanghai No. 1 Department Store was a pretty amazing place. Talk about people who love to shop — this store was going full tilt yesterday afternoon when I arrived. Packed with merchandise — every manner of glitzy new telephone, digital camera, etc. as you walk in and then just floors and floors of clothing of all kinds. And, everything you buy has to be paid for with cash — as card payments simply aren’t accepted.

Last night we had dinner overlooking the Bund — a pretty spectacular stretch of real estate and old European-style architecture along the river.

It’s now just a bit past 5 AM on Monday in Shanghai. I got about 7 hours sleep last night before waking a few minutes ago. Should be good enough to ward off jet lag today — we’ll see. In my experience, east to west is the easy part — it’ll be heading home on Friday that’ll be tougher on the body.

Remember that picture from last night with all of the lights, neon signs, etc.? Well, at some point during the night all, and I do mean ALL, of those neon lights and signs are shut off. I’m sitting here now looking out my hotel window at a sleeping city with just street lights and the rooftop strobes blinking out their warnings — with none of that neon glitz from last night. Fascinating.

By the way, Internet access from my hotel is serviceable — but certainly not high bandwidth. Hard to know, of course, where the narrow part of the fat pipe might be between here and the sites I read regularly.