Shanghai, again (again)
I have come to the inescapable conclusion that I don't like Shanghai very much.
This is not Shanghai's fault, necessarily.
And it's not that I dislike Shanghai; it just feels a little dislocated from the rest of China. That, and my experiences here have so far been less than stellar. This will certainly change with the arrival of Jishnu and Purnima (and hopefully Karsten as well), but the first time I came here, I spent the four most boring days I have seen on my China trip, and more money in those four days not having fun than in any given two-week span since.
The second time I came here, I had quite a lot of fun, but also spent quite a lot of money doing so... and left with a nasty head cold.
This is my third time, and it's an entirely unexpected (and reluctant) return.
The second time I left Shanghai, quite aside from the cold, I took with me assurances from both the Shanghai and Huangshan PSBs -- Public Security Bureaus -- that I could renew my visa in Huangshan, thus bypassing the need to go all the way to Hong Kong for my exit and re-entry qualifications. This wasn't because I didn't want to go to Hong Kong for any particular reason (ni hao, You Lun... and also dui bu qi), but because it's just so damn far, and I'd rather go to Beijing for a week. Aside from the friends that will be there, and the food, Hong Kong holds no appeal for me; whereas Beijing is, as I have been told by practically everyone, one of the must-sees of China.
So I go to Huangshan, meaning to take a few days off, recover from my cold while my visa was renewed, and then make a couple train connections for Beijing. Easy.
Right.
I got to Huangshan, was welcomed with open arms by my friends Xue Ping and Jin Yun, and collapsed into a fever dream for a night. Waking up late the next day, I was taken to the Huangshan PSB by Xue Ping and Jin Yun, where I was told in extremely uncertain terms that they were unable to help me. Apparently, the one guy who was able to help me was sulking after having been taken to task by his superior, and so any application to him that day was likely to be given the axe. The policewoman at the desk recommended coming back in a couple days, after he'd cooled down a bit.
No problem; I was a little worried, but two days hanging out with my friends and sleeping off my cold was not exactly a terrible burden to bear. Two days of movies, dinners, and general hanging-out-and-having-fun later, I show up at the PSB again, this time with the hostel owner's wife in tow to translate.
It soon became apparent that the guy was suffering from so much emotional distress after having been yelled at by his boss that he took the week off; I was told to come back on Monday, when he might be able to help me out.
This was a problem; my visa expired on Wednesday, and the approval process takes at least a week. So aside from a serious case of all-eggs-one-basket syndrome, I would end up spending at least two full weeks in Huangshan. Not a terrible prospect, when considering my friends there, but in all honesty a waste of time.
So I was left with only one alternative; get a bus back to Shanghai that night, and renew my visa there. Unpleasant traveling companions on long distance buses in China is something to which I should be used now, but I'm afraid wholesale acceptance of being nuzzled by a balding Chinese man in his late forties eludes me yet. Six hours of being slept and farted on by my neighbour later, and I'm back in Shanghai, sleeping in dirty clothes in a sweltering room with no window, but -- praise be -- no mosquitoes.
And today, after three hours queuing in the Shanghai PSB, I'm now the proud owner of a receipt for my passport -- which also serves as a temporary travel ID -- and a bill for 940RMB -- an outrageous sum by Chinese standards, but one which every American is expected to pay.
Just, you know. Because.
So there's that.
Bureaucracies and travel woes aside, every Chinese person I've talked to about Shanghai has expressed dislike for this city. The people are mean, they say. Everyone here is way too concerned with money, they say. There's nothing to do. The food is shitty. The weather and pollution sucks. They look down on the smaller/poorer cities, which is basically all of China.
I can't agree with all of those things, but I can't exactly disagree, either.
The people aren't exactly horrible, but I've had much better experiences practically everywhere else in China; more often here than elsewhere, asking directions of a local will result in a grunt and a thumb jerked in a random direction. The friendliest people I've met here are transplants from elsewhere; Sichuan, Hubei, or Anhui. The popular attitude here reminds me of any large city in the U.S.; there's a general sense of ennui, and more often than not, responses to inquiries are curt and surly.
There is also a very palpable presence of wealth. Skyscrapers abound, and much of the city is devoted to high-end shopping and office space. Skyscrapers, shopping, and office towers are not exclusive to Shanghai, obviously, but here there is a sense of focus on these things that I have not experienced elsewhere.
The food is kind of... bland. There are a few standouts; they're famous for dumplings, especially xiao long bao and sheng jien bao, and there is a huge variety of eateries here, both Chinese and Western. However, nearly everything is tainted by the Shanghai preference for sweet flavours; even the food in local Sichuan eateries has been damped down to a limp, whiny, Droopy Dog-esque shade of its usual fiery, ebullient self. The two Sichuanese girls who work at my hostel are desperate for a good spicy meal, and whenever I ask where they want to eat, it's the same place -- a local ma la tong joint two streets away, that serves the only semi-authentic Sichuan food they can find in their price range.
There really isn't that much to do in Shanghai, which is astonishing. Even for someone like me, who spent five minutes admiring a building in Hangzhou before realizing it was a KFC, the options for sightseeing are limited. There's the Bund (old European style buildings and a skyline... hooray), a few museums (not really my thing, but still good for a couple hours), famous food joints that mostly focus on dumplings, and various temples and skyscrapers scattered around the city.
After that... well... mostly all people do is hang out and get drunk after work. I've seen more westerners here than anywhere else in China, and their influence is clear; an abundance of Western style fast-food, restaurants, bars, and facilities, and prices for food and drink that would be considered extortionate by most Chinese. I went to a karaoke joint with friends for a few hours; the bill was nearly 500RMB, more than I normally spend on entertainment in a week. A famous dumpling eatery charges 38RMB for a plate of 10 bite-size dumplings, while my normal expenditure for an entire meal elsewhere in China is anywhere from 5 (breakfast at a street stall) to 25RMB (dinner out with friends at a local restaurant, including starters, mains, beer, and wine).
Also here, more than anywhere else, I've seen Westerners gathering in clusters at the hostel, drinking beer and rehashing the same old topics of conversation they have over beers everywhere else in the world; how strange the local culture is, how bizarre the local food is, and various stories of how someone they know has been cheated, scammed, or pickpocketed here. While I can't really blame them for behaving defensively in a strange environment, it's just wearying when seen in such high concentrations. And seriously; you're in Shanghai. It's not really much more alien than New York or London.
A Singaporean friend and I realized that we have both had similar experiences with Westerners in Shanghai. You'll sit down and share a beer with a group of Europeans or Americans, and they'll be friendly enough; but soon you get a definite sense of being gently shunted aside. They're circling the wagons, and if you look Asian -- even if you speak accentless English and hold a familiar passport -- you're an outsider.
I very much suspect this is more a factor of the kind of Western traveler who tends to hide out in hostel bars in Shanghai, but it's still an entirely unpleasant sensation. So much so, that I've observed a tendency toward defensive behaviour on my part as well, only speaking English to Westerners when they obviously need help with something. It's not a side of myself I relish seeing, and its association with Shanghai does not help my impression of the city.
Shanghai is safe. It's known. It's a perfect "China 101" city, but unless you ride the short bus to school, I think after a couple days here you've seen pretty much all that the place has to offer.
That being said, Shanghai is still unmistakably China, and not just because of all the Chinese people hanging about the place. It's hard to put my finger on it, but it's still there under all the Western trappings.
It's just not the side of China I've come to love.