I consider it a good sign when you’re too busy to keep a journal. It means you’re living well.
Of course, I also have a terrible memory (forget about writing memoirs at the age of 70, I can barely do it now!) and I continually regret having forgotten more fascinating stories than probably anyone would give me credit for. I am forever scribbling random notes onto assorted scraps of paper, mid-adventure, hoping one day soon to decipher them into a cohesive entry. Sadly, most of the time they end up lost in various pockets, and ultimately as lint in the washing machine.
A few survived this week.
Last Saturday, day two, I woke very early with jet lag [really, it’s the only way that’s possible] and decided to test out “the gym”. After haltily jerking through a run on the un-lubricated treadmills [yes, plural, I broke one] I was in desperate need of breakfast [and orthotics].
The unchanging daily breakfast spread at YaShiGe JiuDian (The Ascot) is a substandard continental affair offering the hungry breakfaster a choice of either cornflakes or congee. Hmm. Tough choice.
After unpacking, I met up with Juliet for lunch and a tour of the town. We wandered through the Luwan district in Puxi eating popsicles to fend off the heat, which is brutally magnified as it reflects down from skyscrapers at all angles while pulsing upwards from the absorbent asphalt. Mine was green bean flavored while she went with the red. I keep away from the frozen corn on a stick, it’s just weird, but one of these days I’ll tackle the tarrow pop. There’s always an element of surprise when you bite into these frozen concoctions. Despite what the wrapper says, on most occasions an unusual and unexpected fruity vein runs through the center of your dessert. If you’re lucky it’s chocolate, but it can vary wildly from red bean paste to corn kernels or whole peanuts.
Our daily life-in-China experience came mid afternoon when two taxis slammed into each other 15 feet from where we were standing. Witnessing a car crash is quite shocking at that distance, fortunately no-one seemed immediately injured. It’s something I’ll probably have to get used to since traffic accidents in China are 10 times more prevalent and 8 times more fatal than in the U.S.
We walked on and were soon treated to a double-feature, this one a more depressing socio-economic bellwether. Tracking their way through the throngs of fashionably dressed Shanghainese shoppers and XiaoZi 小资 (little capitalists) is a different class of people: country farmers carrying yokes laden with a summer crop of peaches and lotus cups. The fruit sells for pennies and a day’s hard labor is rewarded with a several hour lorry-ride back to the rural community they left before dawn that morning. (Food prices are kept artificially low in Chinese cities to keep the ‘visible’ population placated. Countryside demonstrations are beyond the media’s scope and easily quelled.)
Generally, in my experience, these vendors hawk their wares quite passively. Not at all like the child-bearing gypsies or persistent watch-dvd-bag men who will follow you a hundred meters thrusting a malnourished infant into your back or whispering inventory lists of ill-gotten loot into your ear. Thus, it was quite surprising when 3 seated farmers loitering at our corner stood up quickly and lurched violently in-front of oncoming traffic. A police officer had strolled up to the intersection and the reaction was like quicklime in acid. Yokes flailed, buses screeched, fruit flew and the terrorized peasants successfully escaped their menace. The officer did not pursue.
Juliet explained to me that, if caught, their fruit , a week-or-more’s potential livelihood, would be confiscated [with occasionally worse penalties]. It’s a mystery to me that so much other dubious salesmanship is tolerated but not the fruit vendors. The urgency of their reaction seemed to bely a more treacherous story. After the farmers fled a smiling traffic warden from the neighboring street gathered the fallen bounty and stuffed it in a sac. A perk of the job maybe.
When you’re new in town, you go with the flow and on Saturday night the flow took me to the Hilton Hotel where Juliet had been invited to and MBA Luxury Goods Management Conference hosted by the head of the European business school ESSEC. I have to admit, I was there for the free drinks but the lecture (by Denis Morriset) was quite interesting. For those not in the business (ah, me) the core business terms: “Foundation Myth-Codes“ (Past and Modernity!; Dreams & Aspirations!!; Style!!!; Griff!!!!; Masstige!!!!!) can seem a little cooky to start. But by the time I left I was seeing another side of things. Dollar bills floated in my eyes as I envisioned myself hawking Marzotto and Richemont products to the ”gaping hole in China’s semi-luxury goods market“.
You know, If I cared more about frivolity and less about the already massive chasm between China’s rich and poor I could probably make a killing.
We lingered at the reception afterwards filling up on wine. I spoke briefly with M. Morriset and met Juliet’s former boss Manj. They both worked in advertising sales at the super-high end fashion periodical ”Noblesse“ specifically targeted at Shanghai’s super-elite natives. We ate Indian food across the street. It was awesome. I love Indian food.
Later, we attempted to walk to a party a La Fabrique but after half an hour of trudging through the hot night my jet lag kicked in and I called an end to my first official day back in China.
