Shanghai is....
a place so familiar, yet foreign. A city that shines bright in the night, yet holding on to light from times of old, of stories untold. As for me, an unexpected one month searching for answers and learning about brothers and sisters of my (grand)mother land.
I present to you, my observations.
Number one, parks are popular.
Here resides the pure community spirit, perseverance in 38 degree heat, and elderly ballroom dancing to manyao.
It's a special spirit.
Do whatever you want, wherever you want. Nobody is stopping you.
Two, we are tourists in our own home. And even more so in China.
Shanghai is home to more than the Shanghainese Chinese. Once in a while I get away with saying I am from Guangzhou, or even further. We all speak Chinese, but as the wise saying goes,
"same same but different".
"same same but different".
Have we spoken about the versatility of bikes? Or Shanghai's Naked Chefs?
For the city that flaunts itself in modernisation, the daily and ordinary are not far from what we experience -- that is, besides beggars with QR codes or cooking 葱油饼 with a gas mask.
The community is everywhere.
In a city inhabited by 24 million, collectivism is blurred in an individualism stemmed by survival instinct. Yet when I looK again, it is a city that thrives on kindness.
"Can I get a macchiato?"
"Sure, please pay 40 rmb"
"I only have cash...."
"Oh. Oh no. Well, it's our treat."
"?!?!?!?!?!"
You're a strange place, but it's hard not to love you, Shanghai.
