Being in Shanghai for few days after moving to Singapore in September last year, I had the opportunity look back at the two years I have spent there. Here is my fully biased perspective on the Chinese city that is building a long bridge toward the west. What do I miss about Shanghai (and what I don’t)?
Missing:
- The VIBE: from Yongkang Lu (in the heart of the French Concession) to Lujiazui (home to Jin Mao, the Financial Center and now the astonishing new Shanghai Tower), going through the Bund, Shanghai blend of architectural and human archetype can satisfy very demanding appetite. Add to this the most sophisticated restaurants and the coolest lounges you can find, a friendly expat and Chinese community, then you have the perfect mix for a vibrant, eclectic, exciting city.
- The SKYLINE: take a chance to see Shanghai from above, with a panoramic view of the skyline. Do it before 11pm (when lights are turned off in most of the key buildings). Do it if possible in one of the rare cloudless days with clear sky and low pollution levels. You will definitely be rewarded for your patience.
- ART GALLERIES: it took me a while to discover the effervescent art scene. But once you are in, it’s a continuous, overwhelming flow of events featuring young brilliant local artists, along with international renowned stars. Can be a good reason, itself, to live in Shanghai.
- DIVERSITY: from young businessman driving their Ferrari to old people brushing their teeth wearing pajamas in the sidewalk; from sophisticated young ladies that are citizen of the world, to Saturday morning old dancers and tai chi practitioners at Fuxing Park, humanity in Shanghai is well represented across a very wide spectrum. Just explore with a curious mind, you will be positively surprised.
- MOBILITY: cheap and convenient, Shanghai mobility system is unmatched. 13 subway lines reaching any point in the city and conceptually free of charge (at 3 Yuan per ride), 50.000+ of taxi, reliable private drivers, traffic flowing diligently any time of the day, all this makes moving across the city an easy and enjoyable experience.
Not Missing:
- SPITTING: You cannot get use to it. It’s not actually the spitting itself, but rather the preparation of it. And it’s across the board: from taxi drivers to old women in their Prada shoes and Armani dresses (you can only wonder how high is the husband rank in the communist party, the amount of bribes that made him a billionaire, and the number of mistress he has across the country).
- SKY: remove the LINE, and you are left in most of the days with high level of pollution, gross and light rain that is making barely impossible any outdoor activity. It’s definitely the reason, itself, to abandon Shanghai.
- INTERNET: extremely slow connectivity coupled with idiotic censorship bring you back to the Tienanmen days, when the world wide web was not there yet and control / repression was the norm. If you are a Twitter-maniac that likes reading the NYT online and have FaceTime calls with your relatives, Shanghai is not the place for you.
- (lack of) PAPER. As I am addicted to magazines and books, living in Shanghai I felt like being in a rehab center, where things are prohibited for your own sake. But books and magazines, along with the ideas they bring, are bad only for the Party leaders that control a disproportionate amount of the national wealth (70 richest delegates are worth 90B$), not for the remaining 99,8% of the population. #JeSuisCharlie, let me choose what I want to read and agree (or strongly disagree) with.
- MOBILITY: I know, this point was also mentioned in the “miss” section. It’s just that: the subway sometimes get so crowded, taxi drivers can start exhausting negotiations in the middle of the night for a ride in their awfully smelly cars, silent motorbike cutting across sidewalks and buses accelerating to hit pedestrians are so dangerous… sometimes the experience is not so likeable.
