Ha’erbin / … and Russian Revivalist architecture …

Ha’erbin is located in the province of Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost region and bordered to the east and north by Russia.  As you would expect, the history between the two countries has been marked by bustling trade, social exchange and plenty of territorial disputes.  After centuries of debate (including an annexation of parts of Heilongjiang by Russia in the mid-19th century), a defined border was finally agreed to in July of 2008. 

Ha’erbin, as the provincial capital, has long had a large Russian population.  But, it was after 1897, when Russia negotiated the construction of a railway linking the city to Vladivostok, a few hundred kilometres to the east, that the major waves of migration happened – initially traders and workers, followed by Russian Jews and then White Russians fleeing the 1917 Revolution. In 1921, one third of Ha’erbin’s population (about 300,000 in total) was Russian.

The city’s European influences are clearly seen in Ha’erbin’s main pedestrian street, Zhongyang Dajie.  The cobblestone street is lined with buildings that mostly date from the early twentieth century, or newer ones made to look like they were.

Perhaps the city’s best known architectural landmark is the Church of St Sophia, a cute Byzantine Revival number in the downtown.  It was built in 1907, a few years after the completion of the Vladivostok rail line, but was “decommissioned” during the Cultural Revolution.  Over time, new commercial and residential developments on all sides of the church obscured it from view, and made access to it impossible.  But, in the 1990s, after the church was added to the national heritage register, a local campaign raised enough funds (from local shopping centres and other businesses) to demolish the surrounding buildings and restore this “hidden treasure” to its original condition.

      

With a small footprint (about 700 square metres) and a dome height of 53 metres, the church has a very pleasing internal proportion. It now houses a collection of historic photographs of Ha’erbin.  While we were there, a bunch of people in bright clothes came out to sing us some songs.

     

It also houses a gift shop full of clichéd Russian stuff, like Babushka dolls and candlesticks and fur hats.

The city’s original synagogue, located on Tongjiang Road and built in 1906, is now used as a youth hostel, cafe and shop.  The neighbouring building, originally a Jewish primary school, then high school, and then home to the Gelazunov Music School, is now a South Korean school.

Further along the same street is a Turkish Mosque, built in 1906, rebuilt in 1922 (not sure why) and now currently unused.  It is a fine little building, not yet (but almost) swamped by the surrounding residential buildings.

But, then, some of the most interesting European buildings could be found purely by chance.  Taking a detour down any street would reveal a collection of early-20th-century structures, once the symbols of a thriving city, but now falling into varying states of neglect and disrepair.

Many of Ha’erbin’s Russians residents fled the city during the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and 1940s.  Those who stayed behind were subjected, along with their Chinese neighbours, to the brutalities of the occupying forces – from food restrictions to beatings and medical experimentation.  When the city was liberated by the Red Army in 1945, its people were not entirely so.  Nationalistic fervour turned locals against the newer immigrants, who were forced back into Russia, or scattered across the world to, amongst other places, the US, Canada and Australia.

But, while the people were lost, their legacy – through design or just pure luck – was not completely obliterated.

Totes randomz in the streets

I’ll tell you one thing I really love about Shanghai, and China in general … it’s the ability to just stumble upon totally weird stuff.  But I can’t tell you what makes it seem so weird … perhaps it’s just the cultural divide.  Or, maybe as the country has opened to the world so quickly, there is no sense of judgement or control over strange things.  Or perhaps within a nation of 1.4 billion, you just have to be extra weird to be noticed.  Too often, I find myself in a situation where I want to grab the person beside me and ask “Is it just me, or are you finding this totally-get-out outrageous?!”

Recently, I happened upon this sport car which had been driven onto the footpath, its doors then flung open to disgorge hundreds of pairs of sports shoes onto the pavement (not to mention ear-splitting techno beats into the air).

      

The people were loving it, stopping their usual Friday night routine (dinner then karaoke, I bet) to fumble through the stacks of fluorescent trainers.  The stench of cheap plastic and sweatshop labour was overpowering.  The lady trying to offload a huge bag of steamed corn cobs was totally neglected by her normally loyal fanbase, and probably left wondering why she had limited herself to what was obviously last year’s best-selling street product.  God damn!  Corn is soooo 2011.

    

The sports shoe sports car reminded somewhat of the big wicker chair trolleys that frequent my neighbourhood.  This is a relatively small version … these things can grow to monumental proportions.  The guys that pull them around must get really tired, because every time I see one, they are slumped in one of the chairs (liberated from the huge tangle), fast asleep.

I saw a few of these in Beijing.  Which is weirder: the missing wheel or the obvious attempt to turn the front into a face?

    

This is a small shop in Xintiandi, in the centre of the city, where instead of hocking cheap souvenirs to tourists, someone decided to fill the space with a bunch of plastic leaves.  There no explanation and no-one around to ask what it all meant.

     

Around the same time, an art show was being held in Times Square, one of Shanghai’s more exclusive shopping centres.  Alongside Louis Vuitton and Cartier, this “digital painting art” show did seem odd.  Not to mention that it was full of all sorts of confusing and confronting, if not contradictory, symbolism.  I am surprised that some government official didn’t personally dismantle the whole thing.

    

These paintings seem to show (horror!) two women and two men in a state of kissingness.  Supposedly the catchcry of officialdom in these matters is the “three nos” – no approval, no disapproval, no promotion.  But despite contravening at least one of these restrictions, I’m sure these painting would have ruffled very few feathers.

This on the other hand, maybe not.  I have tried to feed the Chinese characters into my smartphone (via a handy character-writing app) for translation, and I THINK this artwork suggests a new product for the hard-working man – a pad that you can apply to your backside so that you need not leave your desk when you require Number Twos (although, the man in the diagram has already Number Twoed before application , suggesting that the pad is actually a response to, rather than a pre-emptive strike against, pants-based toileting).  And, while the whole is terrible, I do want to take issue with one detail – the choice of red, rather than brown, as one half of the duotone.  No approval, definite disapproval, and hopefully no promotion.

This dog spent a long time standing on a bench outside our neighbourhood pet store, for no apparent reason.  It didn’t move an inch as I stopped, took out camera, framed shot and clicked away.

I don’t know whether it’s being weird.  Maybe its just cute or scared or something.  After enduring so many months of abuse, my weirdness filter tends to play up a bit.

 

Beijing / Where Mao meets factory meets subversive art

The Dashanzi Art District, or as it is normally known, the 798 Art Zone is an amazing cultural precinct in the north west of Beijing.  It was originally an electronics factory complex, a joint venture between China and East Germany, built 50 years ago and  decommissioned in 1980s.  The precinct has since found new life, resisting government suspicion and developer pressure to become a thriving centre for the art community.

It is a wondrous place for the amateur photographer, full of amazing old buildings, crayzy artworks and wacky peeps.  So, this post best be more pics, less talk.  Heck, I might just do captions!

The factory complex was home to up to 20,000 workers, and provided a hospital, orchestra and sporting and social clubs.

The main “street” through the complex …

… and a quiet little courtyard.

A modern architectural tack-on, a cafe that envelopes a tree and has a pile of rooftop eating areas.

The courtyard outside one of the main factory buildings.

Factory becomes fantastic art space.

A bit of scary refurbing going on, like this unhandrailed glass stair.

Remnants of the industrial past, including old machinery and Maoist slogans painted on the factory walls.

And maybe remnants of a more distant past…?

A lot of the art is surprisingly cheeky …

… and surprisingly loopy – this guy was dressed up like a hospital patient and asking people to sign his bandages …

… and surprisingly subversive – the posters in the window were from a series that suggested that China’s key public operations (rail, television, etc) were rubbish.

But all very engaging … people just loved being part of the show.

Industrial and cultural side by side …

… although industrial on its own was captivating enough.

Buildings and pipes and galleries ….

… and what I like to call a little bit of “accidental art”.

10 Things I Love About Shanghai

Just yesterday, as I was riding the very long up escalator at my local Metro station, I spotted one of my favourite Shanghai things – something from which my feeling of happiness is not derived from a sense of irony, bemusement or desperation.  So, it got me to thinking about things I like here.  Things that are 100% good.

The Baby Split-pant
Babies anywhere are cute.  Babies in China are super-cute.  Babies in China in split-pants might be the cutest thing ever.  The split-pant combines practicality (the ability to toilet in any gutter or planter-box you wish) with comic potential (accidentally exposing your bot-bot to the world).  This baby is wearing a double split-pant.

    

The Food of the Minorities
Some of the outer edges of China have amazing foods.  I particularly love the cuisine of Yunnan (in the same family as Vietnamese and Thai) and Xinjiang (the western, almost Middle-Eastern, autonomous region).  Both have amazing breads, fresh salads and great noodles … which means that they have now become a popular choice for the urbanites of Shanghai.

   

The Bottle Opener
As yet, I haven’t tired of Shanghai’s tallest tower, even though it continually pops in view all over the city.  Especially compared to some other buildings, it is a very elegant structure.  It has an observation deck at its highest level and a crayzy light display each evening.

The Time It Takes to End a Phonecall
There is a strange habit here of extending the process of saying goodbye on the telephone.  I take it as a sign of respect, that the other person doesn’t want to end things quickly.  A typical conversation may go something like this …

A: We’ll get the contract signed and sent to you right away.  [it’s a business call]
B: OK.  Thanks.
A: Great, talk to you later.
B: OK. Bye.
A: Bye.
B: Hm, thanks, bye.
A: Byebye, ah, bye.
B: Ok, bye.  Bye.
A: Bye.  Ah.  Bye.

Using the Footpath to Full Potential
Most cultures could learn a things or two about using, and sharing, the footpath as they do in Shanghai.  It’s business meets family meets pleasure meets cooking meets meets walking meets meeting meets washing up meets eating meets everything else.

    

Shanghai’s Amazing Art Deco Architecture
Shanghai reputedly has one of the world’s best collections of Art Deco architecture, due to the economic boom of the early 20th century and the influence of foreign designers.  It’s something I didn’t know about before I arrived, and continues to delight and surprise me.  That’s the front door to our apartment building on the bottom right.

The Long Sound of Intrigue and Confusion
Imagine, if you will, that you are in a taxi and you encounter a street that is blocked for no apparent reason, or another driver that is attempting something strange or dangerous (u-turn across a median strip, for example).  Without doubt, the driver will respond with a unique exclamation – a drawn-out “hmmmmmm” noise that starts low and rises, suggesting a question but also sounding like an observation; a cross between intrigue and confusion; with a tonal style inspired by Scooby Do.  If you’ve heard it, you’ll know exactly what I mean.  It never fails to make me smile when I hear it.

Cats that Own the Street
The cats of Shanghai would have to be the most confident felines in the world.  They just sit (or lie)on the street or footpath, they draw attention to themselves by miaowing loudly, they approach any person they wish.  Scaredy-cats they are not.

The Shanghai Pyjama
People are most happy to wear their pyjamas in public.  Lots of people … and not just when they are caught short of a dunny roll.  People will walk far from home and undertake a series of errands still wearing last night’s PJs.  There are abundant theories about why this is so prevalent and so specific to Shanghai.  Some say it is like the older Chinese habit of wearing silk clothing as a means of displaying your status as a person of leisure (not some dirty worker).  Or, that it is a washday thing – given most Chinese don’t have loads of clothes, there aren’t many wardrobe options while you are waiting for your clothes to dry.  Or that it is a way of expressing that you are a real local, not some visitor from a less desirable suburb.  Whatever it is, it’s one of my favourite Shanghai sights.

     

Annamaya
Of Shanghai’s many good vegetarian eateries, Annamaya is king.  Housed in a little yellow building quite close to our place, Annamaya serves up a range of healthy and yummy foods, including delicious vegan deserts.  Every time we go, we wonder why we don’t eat there more often.

Let’s (sort of) talk about sex

It appears that China is undergoing a kind of sexual evolution.  I would have popped an R on the front of the last word in that sentence, but feared that it could be an overstatement, not to mention the best way to draw the attention of people who like to scan the internet for words like that.  Hmm, anyway …

I was a bit surprised to find that it wasn’t uncommon to see shops like the one above, or like the one in my neighbourhood that has a lovely big window display full of “lifestyle products”.  And these are just regular streets in regular neighbourhoods (I am yet to see what could be classed as a red light district).

In most hotel bathrooms too, you will discover a basket of cheeky personal products, some overtly sexual in usage and others I’m not sure of.  It seems that Chinese society is quite upfront about this stuff, although only in recent years.

The name of these condoms translate (I think) as “I can”, a coy but supportive message to the user, although a little diminished by the English subtitle: “like fire to one’s heart’s content”

Traditionally (under Confucian law), sexuality was strictly regulated.  Promiscuity and adultery were harshly punished, the latter resulting in jailtime for the lady and total castration for the gentleman (or should I say, soon-to-be eunech).  A good example of the punishment and the crime being a little disproportionate.  That said, eunechs could always look forward to a startling career as the emperor’s confidant – that’s what always happened, right?

This pack contains both a “vibrated” and a “condom”.  Huh wot?

For much of the 20th century, sexuality was greatly repressed … primarily because one’s personal desires were meant to be sacrificed for the dream of societal togetherness.  From the 1980s onwards though, as economic policies shifted, so too did the social stances of government.  Sex was returned to the personal sphere.

This is like Invasion of the Body Snatchers starring a giant banana.  Confusion would surely abound: “Right, so we have to stretch this thing over your upper body…”

A key change was the reworking of marriage laws in 2003, which simplified not only the process of marrying, but also unmarrying.  By necessity, this also removed the requirement that before marriage, a woman would need to prove herself (via a physcial examination) to be a virgin.  A general modernisation of a many social policies also occurred.  Interestingly, one of China’s most restrictive social policies – the one-child policy – has lead to some expansion of personal rights.  Implied in this policy is the separation of sexual behaviour and child-production … that the former can be pursued purely for reasons of pleasure. 

Some kind of washing product, a “pure Chinese medicinal” supposedly.

Of course, there would be many more factors at play here.  The internet now provides ready access to all sorts of information and entertainment.  China is more global, with people inetrested in seeing, if not adopting, Western ways of doing.  A growing middle-class, focused on personal rights and fuelled by increasingly higher disposable incomes, have both the desire and means to push some social boundaries.   And, like much of the world, sex-related disease and crime have forced a more frank discussion of some critical issues.

These panties (both for men and women) are 100% Fashion Sexy and have Good Air Permeability.  This would make them easily rippable, rather than aimed at gassy botbots (not so sexy).

It’s all very new still.  Much of the stuff I read online suggests that while people are apparently more comfortable discussing the topic, they are not necessarily becoming better informed.  There are lots of amusing stories told by counsellors and health professionals, like the college couple, prepared to take the “big step” and having bought the right precautions, having no idea about what goes on what, or in what.  But, also less amusing ones about women  use abortion as their primary means of “contraception”, unaware that there are other options available.  

“Competitive men’s socks”.  I am sure they are just socks.  For putting on you feet under shoes.  But without buying them and opening them up, I can’t rule out that ‘sock’ is just a euphemism.

Hopefully the gap between “talking about” and “being informed about” will close quickly.  Along with the sex shops and readily available contraception (on the counter of every convenience store, not just in hotels), universities and schools are introducing education programs and better social support for students.  And the internet, despite attempts at controlling it, must also be giving plenty of teenagers a pretty good education as well.  I guess evolution is never a steady process.

An amazing expanding towel, irresponsibly without a warning about placing the uncompressed towel in one’s mouth (like the ones I have seen in Australia).

A New Life for the House of Death

As I get to know the multitude of functions of my new camera, I have been on the search for subjects that are both breathtaking and simple to photograph (no point having a new camera if you can’t show off some good photos). 1933 scores on both accounts.

It began life as an abattoir (part of a chain, of which the others, in London and New York, are long demolished) and after several changes of function, is now used as a complex of studios, restaurants and retail spaces.

The building has been stripped back to its Art Deco functionalism (that could well be an oxymoron…), exposing its original architectural features and celebrating its original usage. In a city where people cross the road so they don’t have to walk past a hospital, it’s a brave step on the part of the developers.

The building itself is an amazing mash-up of concrete and voids, soaring bridges, ramps and winding staircases. It’s like Escher on Mushrooms, but surprisingly very functional.

The whole complex is basically a circle inside a square.

My research tells me that (yukkies ahead…) the cows were forced up the 3 levels of the building via a series of ramps at the periphery – the square – stopping to feed in a number of rooms (at least they were given a final meal).

Bridges of varying width would then sort the cows into different sizes before funneling them to the inner circular tower, where they would descend (gravity-assisted) to their final gory fate on the floor below.

To ensure that beast and man would never meet – getting emotionally attached can make that killing part a little hard – a multitude of tiny staircases was provided for the workers.

     

In the refurbishment, the outer feeding halls and administration areas have been converted to offices, restaurants and retail, while the inner tower is used as an exhibition space.

A glass-floored events space has been created at the top – as if the feeling of discomfort wasn’t pressing enough already.

The rooftop is a pretty nice place to take in a view of the city.

After a spend of over 100 million RMB, the developers might be wondering why 1933 hasn’t taken off yet. Perhaps it’s the sordid history or the inflexible configuration of the building (‘cows to the slaughter’ is not such a good metaphor for a retail centre) or its relatively inaccessible location or the lack of interest from decent tenants (aside from the Ferrari Owners Club of Shanghai and a few steak-themed restaurants).

    

That said, it has captured one market very effectively … a weekend army of amateur photographers, armed with big cameras and the desire for an easy ego-boost.

 

Life at 350 kilometres per hour

Yowsers!  It’s been a long time between posts!  The Doctor has been busy … getting some projects finished off, making a trip home and then hosting some of the Bullshit Clan for a while.  While the family were here, we took a trip to Hangzhou, the preferred weekend destination of the Shanghainese (and a good percentage of the 20 million were there when we went, it seems).  The quickest way to get there is on the newish express train – covering the 180 kilometre journey in about 40 minutes.

Such a fast speed – 350 km/h for most of the journey – does not lend itself to photography (not with my soon-to-be-replaced low-end camera at least).  Nonetheless, I sat lens-to-window, documenting the landscape as it rapidly changed before me.

Don’t be misled by the use of the word ‘landscape’ though.  The two cities are basically joined, with vast stretches of housing, industry and intensive farming between them.  The transition from one to the next can be quite abrupt, with multi-storey residential buildings overlooking vege crops or nestled against coal-fired power plants.  The housing towers are pretty monotonous, with row after row of identical structures.

Similarly, lines of greenhouses and cultivated land have an almost hypnotic affect, flicking past at great speed.  Big cities have big appetites I guess.

All types of human activity were on display.

And as you’d expect, roads as well as rail lines – multi-stacked interchanges and highways, complete (some strangely empty) and under construction.   Through much of the journey, we were shadowed by a major highway, marked by massive billboards, and carrying traffic that moved at a relative snail’s pace.

And, on the edges of Hangzhou, typical Chinese suburbia.  These buildings – some single dwellings – seem to be inspired by both Chinese and European architectural traditions.  We used to call this post-Modernism, right?

And in no time we arrive. And in no time, this will all change.  In a year or two, the same journey will be completely different.

 

My first year in Shangers

I am just about to reach the end of my first year in Shanghai.  Time has flown … thus is the curse of being too busy and being too old …

Here is a highlights package of Year One.  I have themed it around the colour red.  Red is – most of the time – a colour of good fortune in China, so its often appears around the city.

Around this time of year, people sometimes wear red to bring good luck.  But, to be humble about it, it is often red underwear.  I have red longjohns that I have been wearing all winter (for warmth, not luck of course).  I was inspired by the man downstairs from our apartment, who would hang his very fetching LJs in the stairwell.  After weeks of looking, I finally found my own pair.  I am wearing them right now!

For my blog post about our stairwell (yeah, the one with dead chicken) … click here > Our new apartment (1) and Our new apartment (2)

For many Shanghainese, the last year has been all about Expo.  I got to Expo once for a couple of hours and never made it back.  My own lack of organisation reflects the importance of planning, just like the Expo theme (Better City, Better Life).

For more, click here > My first trip to Expo  or for the one about Expo’s wacky mascot Haibao > Give Praise Unto Almighty Haibao

For me, the city was the real event.  These red things spell out the name Cool Docks, a new and kinda unsuccessful development near the old city.  Cool Docks is an exemplar of the ongoing tension between economic development and historic preservation in Shanghai.  See more here > Goodbye Docks! Hello Cool! as well as this post on Xintiandi > The Fine Art of Fakery

I am always looking for special times where elements of the city compose themselves into an interesting photo.  I call them Jeffrey Smart moments and I have been compiling a gallery here > Now, that IS crayzy!

I also made other galleries devoted to funny buildings > Small Man, Big Hair and food > Fun with Food … as well, the most popular of all, Chinglish > Huh Wot?

While we haven’t done as much travelling as I would have liked, we did get to visit a few places closer to Shanghai.  We did a weekend trip to Nanjing and saw lots of amazing old buildings, including this Hall of Scarifice.  The Nanjing posts > The other great wall and > A nice place to spend eternity and > Avoiding the Tiger Summer

    

Suzhou is another nearby city, full of canals and old buildings.  The candles are from the main temple in the city centre.  Suzhou stuff > Canals, gardens and silkworms > It could hardly be called humble… > Suzhou Museum: it’s all-white

These hire bikes are found all over Hangzhou, which we just visited last week.  Stay tuned for future posts on this city, often referred to as “Heaven on Earth”.

    

And a few trips to Hong Kong … catching up with friends and family and renewing visas.  This is the pulling mechanism of the Peak Tram which gave us the amazing view included in this post > City, nature and nothing in between

And not to forget the ever-fascinating Macau which I had a bit of trouble working out … It’s like the Portugal of China! > No, no, the Disneyland of China! > No, actually, the fake Venice of Asia!

And speaking of trams and stuff, here is a shot from Line 10 of the Shanghai Metro.  The red seat is for the mobility-impaired.  I cannot talk enough about how amazing the rail system (Metro, heavy rail, fast rail) is here.  I did a few posts about transport > High Speed Rail? China Has It. > My Walk to Work (2) > Another Crayzy Motorway > The Rules of the Road > but must do more.

And to finish off, here is what some workfriends and I wore to our company’s annual (Chinese New Year) dinner.  I was concerned that our interpretation of the theme “Your Chinese Best” as the uniform of the Red Army may have been risky, but everyone loved it and there was much clapping and laughing when we arrived.  Here are some of the ways I celebrated the various festive seasons > Festive celebrations / let me count the ways and > Carpet-bombing in the new year

It’s been a great year and I have enjoyed remembering all the crayzy things I have seen since I arrived.  Hope you have enjoyed hearing about it all too …

Onto Year of the Rabbit.

Thanks to everyone for your readership and for your comments over the last year.

x The Doctor.

Carpet-bombing in the new year

Let it be said (and I am sure I am not the first to do so) that lunar new year in Shanghai is crayzy.

Deceptively so … a few days before the year ends, the city becomes almost empty, as people make the trek back to their hometown to celebrate the holiday with their family.  Shops close.  Work pressures give way to long lunch breaks.  Streets and footpaths become pleasantly roomy.

But then, as the new year is just about to tick over, things go totally bananas.  Every street in the city looks kinda like this …

The custom is to get out in the street and let off fireworks – another good occasion to scare away those bad spirits.

Generally, it’s low fuss.  People just pop out (often wearing their bedclothes) to light some eardrum-bursting crackers and to throw some sparklers around.  Streets are given over to the activity with cars and buses having to carefully navigate around the fireworks as they explode.

We were at a pub in the evening and a few of the staff (and some very drunk patrons) did the honours on the footpath outside.   No lost fingers, no spilt drinks, thankfully.

When you account for millions of people doing this, the cumulative effect is pretty huge.   People often liken it to a bombing campaign – deafening blasts and flashing lights all over the place, followed by a toxic haze that descends over the city.  I couldn’t get the taste of firecracker out of my lungs for hours …

And the streets are filled with the debris of all this fun-making.  Boxes (containing up to 100 ‘shots’ that hopefully have all exploded) and shreds of red paper lie scattered everywhere.

I got up earlyish in the morning to take some photos of all this mess but was amazed to find that thousands of people had been out in the street cleaning while I slept.  The streets were spotless.

I did however find that my neighbours had been burning money again.  Fake money, obviously…

And we made a trip to the local fruit shop (one of the few businesses that stayed open for the night) to buy a new year gift for our gateman and his family.   A box of oranges (certainly not chocolates) is the done thing here.

 

Welcome to the year of the rabbit!
It’s one of the better years, apparently.

Snowing me, snowing you

My journey to work was slow today.  We got another big dump of snow last night so I have to tread carefully (for fear of slipping) and stop to take lots of photos. 

This is the view from our living room. 

And just outside the front door.  At this point, I was considering a sickie.

And the street outside.

On my stop-off for coffee on Anfu Road.  I was hoping for better framing but my fingers were snap frozen and I was balancing camera, coffee cup and umbrella.

And another yellow vehicle.  I say: if you come equipped with a scoop and it’s snowing, get on the road and do something useful…

Julu Road, just near the Metro station.

And proof (via the crayzy Nanpu Big Bridge) that I am actually in Shanghai.

We even have a snowman welcoming people to our office.  He seems to be smoking one of those pen-cigarettes.

Discovering Shanghai’s Jewish history

It was John Safran who first alerted me to Shanghai’s Jewish population – in his TV show Race Relations, within which he sought to reconcile his desire for Asian women with his mother’s insistence that he marry within the Jewish faith. Landing himself one of these “Jewrasians” was apparently the perfect solution. Nonetheless, the Jewish history of Shanghai, although relatively short in Chinese terms, is another fascinating layer of the city. We recently did a tour of Jewish Shanghai, along with some visiting friends, guided by a guy with endless knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject.

The first significant wave of Jewish arrival in Shanghai was during the mid 19th century, from Persia and Russia (mostly traders and businessmen, but later many fleeing the Russian Revolution of the early 20th century). The Baghdadi Jews were particularly successful, especially the cotton-trading Sassoon family, who arrived in Shanghai via India. By the turn of the twentieth century, the family had moved into real estate, owning almost 2000 properties, including much of Nanjing Road. The grandson of the original settlers, Victor Sassoon, was renowned as one of Shanghai’s bon vivants (read: pants-man) and as the developer of the famous Cathay (now Peace) Hotel at the intersection of the Bund and Nanjing Road. It’s the one with the pointy dark roof, from this photo in the 1940s.

Many of the family’s employees also became successful in business. The Kadoorie brothers set themselves up in real estate, banking and rubber, later relocating to Hong Kong where the family still owns the electricity system and the Peak Tram. Another, Silas Hardoon, also in real estate, owned one of the largest personal estates in China, where he and his Eurasian wife (Luo Jialang) raised a multi-cultural family of 11 adopted children. This house has been turned into the “Children Palace” where under-privileged kids can hang out and have fun.

Many Jews arrived in Shanghai in the late 1930s as “stateless refugees”. Having established an International Settlement area in the city and acting under mostly autonomous rule, the city allowed the relatively free (no passport required) arrival of people from anywhere in the world. As the rest of the world closed their borders to Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany, Shanghai became a safe haven.

World War Two lead to more restricted movement of people out of Europe. The Chinese Consul General in Vienna, Ho Feng Shan, secretly issued exit visas to thousands of Austrian Jews up until 1940 – perhaps as he was willfully acting outside his role, his status as the “Chinese Schindler” is not widely recognized here. Better known is the Japanese Consul in Poland, Chiune Sugihara, who approved thousands of visas to Japan to Jews, knowing that they would stop their overland journey short in Shanghai. Shanghai’s Jewish population grew to about 30,000.

With the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in 1943, the Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees (aka the “Shanghai Ghetto”) was established in the northern part of the city. Initially, people were free to move in and out of the sector, but were subject to a curfew, and suffered through poverty, food shortages, crowded housing and disease. 

   

As the war continued, the Japanese rule of the ghetto became more oppressive and violent. Although Germany started to apply pressure on the Japanese to hand over the Shanghai Jews (to allow their execution), the Japanese resisted. After the war, most Jews left the city. Businessmen sought the greener pastures of Hong Kong and other cities, and others relocated to places such as Australia, Canada, the US and South America.

On the tour, we visited the house where our friend’s grandparents lived before they moved to Sydney.

We also visited the Ohel Moshe Synagogue. Built in 1907, it became unused only about 30 years later, and has now been converted into a Jewish museum. Last year, it held its first bar mitzvah in 60 years.

Huoshan Park is the only public memorial to the Ghetto. 

It was a fascinating tour …. it lead me into parts of Shanghai I had never seen and into histories I never knew existed.  And it was great to share it with a friend whose personal history is part of the story.

Festive celebrations / let me count the ways

In China, but especially in a large cosmopolitan city like Shanghai, there will always be many and varied ways to celebrate something.  Each year (the international year, that is…) culminates in a number of celebrations, taken from both Chinese and Western traditions, from the religious to the commercialised.

Dongzhi Festival
Dongzhi, literally meaning “arrival of winter”, occurs on the Winter Solstice and is one of China’s most important days.  It marks the point when days start to become longer, a shift that relates to the ideas of balance and harmony (yin/yang no doubt). Families get together to eat food – of course! In the north, it is usually dumplings, in the south Dongzhi – rice balls, often coloured brightly, in a sweet soup.  Must be hot to ward off the chills of winter.

Speaking of warding off … Dongzhi Festival is also the day that all the ghosts come out (it is the longest night of the year, afterall).  So, people take to the streets to burn fake money – the theory being that the burnt money will travel to one’s deceased ancestors, keeping them satisfied in the afterlife and away from real-life.

All over streets and footpaths (like outside our apartment) are the remnants of this activity…

To avoid any unsatisfied ghosts wandering the streets after dark, it is also tradition to also leave work as early as possible.  No comment…

Christmas Lead-up
China has certainly embraced the tinselly side of Christmas, with many parts of the city adorned with flashing lights and baubles, and electronic advertising screens given over the festive greetings.

In our office, we had a Christmas tree and did a Secret Santa.

On Christmas Eve, we all gathered around to watch – one-by-one – as people carefully unwrapped their gifts.  None of the frantic paper-ripping from home …  We also ate foods, a mix of Western (chips and beer) and Chinese (tofu and Pocky) snacks.

My Secret Santa gift was two figurines, a rabbit (looking a little Donny Darko-esque) and a dragon.  My anonymous gift giver explained, by way of a note, that they represent the coming lunar year and China itself.  They are now resident on my desk.

Ping An Ye
On 24 December, many people celebrate Ping An Ye.  This translation of “Christmas Eve” also sounds a bit like the word for apple (ping guo), so people get together to eat apples.  This is meant to bring good luck and good health for the coming year.

Christmas Day
While recognised by many, Christmas itself is not such a big deal.  Our company has a day off, but it is not an official holiday.

We met up with friends for lunch, at a classy hotel nearby.  The hotel gave us little gifts, a fruit pudding in a red bowl … it’s like a Christmas microcosm of east-meets-west.

It was close to freezing on the day, which was a weird sensation for Christmas.  But, we ate a lot of food, then retreated to the warmth of our house, wherein I enjoyed a long afternoon nap.    Just keeping some traditions alive …

 

Nanjing / A nice place to spend eternity

The Ming Xiaolong Mausoleum has been confounding people for centuries, myself included.

When it completed in 1405 – as the final resting place of the recently deceased Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the great Ming Dynasty – legend has it that 13 identical funeral processions were simultaneously conducted, to keep the exact location of the tomb secret and to prevent any future looting.  The actual construction took almost 20 years, with 100,000 labourers toiling under a military guard of 5,000.

At one end of the tomb lies the Sifangcheng (Rectangular City) Pavilion, a large stone building that still stands, mostly.  At its centre is a column inscribed in honour of the Emperor and standing atop a giant stone tortoise – about the size of a typical car.  At some point in time, though, the roof collapsed.

From the Pavilion, the gently-curving Sacred Way extends 1800 metres through the landscape, with pairs of carved figures guarding the tomb.

Twelve pairs of animals are present, each demonstrating a difference aspect of the Emperor’s influence and character.  Lions show stateliness  and honour.

Camels, symbol of desert and tropical regions, indicate the vast territory of the dynasty.

And elephants show the value of stability and steadiness in the Emperor’s rule of the people.

There are also a number of mythical creatures, such as griffins and unicorns, perhaps suggesting the importance of a good imagination and a strong horn.

Further along the Sacred Way the pathway is guarded by pairs of minister and generals, providing the tomb with strength of mind and body.

The main part of the mausoleum contains a collection of stunning red buildings, laid out around a central axis and terminating on a small mountain peak beyond.

Linked by a sequence of arches and doorways, small courtyards house a number of pavilions and structures, each with a specific ceremonial or symbolic role.

This is the pavilion for sacrifice (presumedly non-human animals only).  The red wall colour may have been a practical choice …

And at the rear of the site, nestled into the mountainside, is the Baocheng, or Precious Hall, a construction of breath-taking scale.  From the entry plaza (actually a really wide bridge over a waterway), a small (relatively speaking) archway leads to a steep stair that give access to the upper level.

I think that the actual tomb may lay behind this building, hidden in the mountainside (please note use of ‘think’ and ‘may’).  Perhaps the tomb’s location is a secret still held, or maybe I just couldn’t read the map properly.  Hey, it was hot and I had just walked up all those stairs!

The Ming Xiaolong was the first Ming Tomb to be built, and also the largest.  Its elements – the Sacred Way and its guarding pairs, the turtle-topped column, scared gateways and pavilion – formed the prototype for the tombs in the Ming Dynasty, a legacy that stretched many centuries.

Snow. Shanghai has that too.

Shanghai really does have everything … crazy buildings, a good Metro, an interesting history, and snow.  Before I moved here, snow wasn’t part of the image I had of the city, but then again, many things weren’t.  Anyway, it snowed today.  It wasn’t particularly heavy, but it was constant, so by the end of the day, most things were covered in white.  I am glad I bought a new coat on the weekend.

These photos are of my office, taken by our in-house photographer.

I also called Mr I.E. and asked him to leave the warmth of our apartment to take a few shots around the ‘hood.

My phone described the day as “partly sunny with flurries” whatever they are … It also suggests we will have a 20 degree temperature jump over the next few days.  Sunday will be sunny, no flurries, no worries.