The Simmy Sagas

Emperor’s Bedroom

The Imperial bedroom was the most popular scene in the Forbidden City. Crowds of tourists pressed their lenses up to the glass and peered in to see where the Emperor slept. The symbol on the far wall is “double happiness,” literally comprised of two happiness characters strung together. Many translations of Chinese into English happen to sound like Orwell’s 1984 “Newspeak.”

Bridal Palaquin

The exhibits were well curated with labels and often explanations for each artifact. Paintings or photographs served as the backdrop, artistically illustrating the objects in action. The largest exhibit was devoted to imperial marriages. This gold palanquin carried the bride into the Forbidden City. Before the marriage, a formal proposal event took place involving three phases: stating the proposal, requesting the woman’s full name and lineage to ensure there were no blood relatives in common, and an astrological process to check compatibility.

Forbidden City Art

Many pages from the Emperor’s “wedding albums” were displayed on the museum walls. It was fascinating to recognize the architecture portrayed in the paintings from a few minutes prior to viewing them.

Forbidden City Lantern

Lanterns such as the one above were lit for the arrival of the Empress-to-be through the gates of the Forbidden City at midnight. Once the Empress stepped over a saddle to enter the bridal chamber and the Emperor formally joined her, they proceeded to the bed and … ate underdone dumplings, literally. This special food was consumed on their marriage day to provide them with good male heirs. Drinking the nuptial cup was then the climax of the marriage.

Forbidden City Pathway

Emerging from an indoor museum at the Forbidden City can best be described as walking out of the Medieval Art exhibit at the MET in NYC and unexpectedly finding yourself strolling through the corridors of a European castle. The more I wandered around this landmark, the more realistic it felt to my senses. The museum closed at 16:20, meaning there was an exodus of Chinese tourists moving toward the gates at 16:15, escaping the possibility of experiencing the palace after dark. At that time, crows came out to perch on the ornate eaves alongside the ceramic animals, and the palace really started to feel alive.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City served as the Emperor’s Palace in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1644, 1644-1911). It’s the most impressive place I’ve seen in China and happens to be the world’s largest palace complex.

Crossing the Moat

To enter the Forbidden City, you must first cross a 6-meter deep moat.

Palace Blueprint

The southern half of the palace, where the Emperor ruled, is devoted to prominent buildings on the central axis, large open spaces, and a royal obsession with symmetry. The northern half, where the Emperor and his family lived, is a maze of smaller buildings that are unfortunately not open to the public.

Lion Statue A

Bronze and copper statues guard the entrances to the central axis buildings, which have very impressive architecture.

Lion Statue B

Perhaps this lion was meant to be so fierce that it was clawing one of its own kin…

Painted Wood

In addition to gold, all the primary and secondary colors are on display except for purple, which is nowhere to be found on the intricately painted wood underneath the eaves. Orange is rare and looks like white paint that was mistakenly mixed with red paint when it is used.

Fire Protection Vessels

When the palace was inhabited, these bronze vessels were filled with water in case of fire. During the winter, they were covered with quilts to keep the water warm or heated with coal.

Grain Measure Vessels

These grain measure vessels were placed outside the palace to credit the Emperor with establishing a grain measuring standard that unified the nation.

American Express Translations

Outside each central axis building, there was a sufficiently well-translated sign noting the parameters of the structure – one auspicious bay number times another auspicious bay number – and describing what function the building had for the emperor. Note the line at the bottom indicating that the sign was translated by American Express, the only piece of advertising in the whole palace.

Changing Clothes Throne, Bao He Dian

Though one structure was for meeting dignitaries and another for resting, they all looked similar on the inside: a mainly empty hall with a carpeted throne , statues, and vases. These interiors were also not open to the public. Instead, tourists swarmed at the front rail, and pushing was necessary to get a view of the throne.

Ceilings

Most of the buildings had gable roofs and beautiful panelled ceilings.

Non-Axial Buildings

The continuous structures lining the sides of the palace have been converted into museums that house artifacts from weddings and wars. Of course there was no mention of servants’ lives or the role of anyone below royalty.

Forbidden City

Pictures & videos coming soon. I’ve spent the past two days at The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, Zhongshan Park, Silk Street Market, and a family music shop.

Eyeglasses

Ms. Jocelyn Gibbons, the marketing director of Just Eyewear, found me through this blog and requested data on the cost of prescription eyeglasses in Shanghai. I asked around for prescription prices and determined that the most economic option would be to purchase rims in the States and lenses in Shanghai. Prescription eyeglass prices in Shanghai start at around 80 RMB (11.72 USD). I also witnessed this bucket of non-prescription glasses. The going price was 2 RMB (0.30 USD) each in the old markets. Some market stalls even do eye exams themselves and can have the glasses ready within 30 minutes.

Pork Rib Bridge

Lobster

This imported lobster was the most expensive dish we tried. The meat was slightly cooked, spread on a bed of ice, and served with soy sauce and extremely concentrated wasabe. The rest of the lobster was used to make a soup with the only rice served the whole night. For special occasions, it is considered cheap for the host to fill his guests’ stomachs with rice. The whole meal was delicious and I’ll admit it was a little amusing to watch my coworkers gasping for air after ingesting the wasabe that is not used in Chinese traditional cuisine. After wine entered the scene, there were also many red faces in the room.

Sheep Head Bouquets

Valentine’s Day in Shanghai is a copy of the American holiday with a few added quirks. While flowers and chocolate dominate the event, bouquets of little animal heads are also popular. This design is based on a famous Chinese wolf-sheep cartoon.

Nanjing Dong Lu

I started couple-hunting on East Nanjing Lu to see what Valentine’s Day is like in the modern commercial part of Puxi.

Flower Vendor

I was quickly approached by one of the many flower vendors on the street. Roses went for about 75 cents each in the afternoon.

Nanjing Shop Saleswomen

At this shop counter, the saleswomen’s perpetual smiles were only matched by their continuous broadcasting into the headset while holding up red treats of some kind.

Shanghai Haagen-Dazs

This wildly popular and expensive American chain in Shanghai took the opportunity to market for Valentine’s Day.

Haagen-Dazs

The soft text in the Haagen-Dazs window reads, “Cafe — Patisserie.” Haagen-Dazs is an elegant sit-down affair. Prices are much higher here than in the States, since ice cream is an imported concept from “American culture.”

Baked Goods Couple

A couple buys baked goods together. I tried a tasty pastry from this stand that consisted of a dusty mix of sugar and finely-ground peanuts slipped into a handful of pliable dough.

Chinese Cupids

Once I left East Nanjing Road, there were flower delivery bikes on every street.

Shanghai Flower Shop

The distribution centers, local flower shops, were beautifully messy. Notice the sparkly blue roses. They’re popular but fake, like many fashionable items in this city.

Shanghai Teddy Bears

Other presents included giant teddy bears. I heard that if a girl likes karaoke, her boyfriend should get her one of these stuffed animals. I don’t understand the correlation yet.

Matching Couple Sweatshirts

A store in the Hongkou District sells matching sweatshirts for couples. Tomato and egg, for example, is a very popular lunch dish here. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any couples emerge from the fitting rooms.

Shanghai DQ Couple

Here’s a happy couple standing in line at a Shanghai Dairy Queen who gladly let me take their picture. Note the Year-of-the-Tiger bouquet.

Couple at the Shanghai Arcade

I visited the arcades, where girlfriends impatiently waited for their boyfriends to finish shooting was the trend. An arcade employee stopped me as I was about to take a picture of a couple at a roulette table. Gambling machines are verboten here. A man with a headset guards the street elevator, the only accessible entrance to the smoky arcade.

Shanghai Couple Makes a Scene

This couple seemed to enjoy making a scene. The boyfriend kept trying to buy a rose while his girlfriend pulled him away, scolding him for wanting to waste money.

Shanghai Couple Makes a Scene

They didn’t seem to mind that I was taking pictures, but when I started laughing, the woman yelled, “See? Even she’s laughing at me!” and tugged a little harder at his arm.

Shanghai Couple Makes a Scene

When I left, they were still at it. Above, the flower dealer waits patiently at his cart.

Hefang Jie

Hefang Jie, a famous pedestrian street off the southeast shore of Xi Hu, is the heart of old Hangzhou. Also known as the South Song Dynasty Imperial Street, it is lined with a variety of artistic souvenirs and snacks from all over China. ‘Though the street was recently heavily renovated, it is still home to century-old shops and maintains a Song Dynasty theme.

Biking in Hangzhou

Biking is by far the best way to explore Hangzhou. In fact, a bike is needed to see everything in the tourist town. There is a trail around the perimeter of Xi Hu (West Lake) as well as on both of its causeways. The government-subsidized red bikes are the most popular and cheapest to rent.

Hangzhou Bike Station

Hangzhou has several bike stations scattered around Xi Hu. Rachel, my fellow tourist from Hong Kong, taught me the ins and outs of the Hangzhou bike system. First, a $300 Yuan (44 USD) deposit needs to be placed at a bike station booth in order to get a card. By scanning the card on a bike stand, you unlock a bike and are free to take it wherever you like. The trick to the system is that the first hour is free. After that, the price goes up incrementally. Rachel timed our bike rides so that when we had been out for almost an hour, I would quickly find a nearby bike station on the map. We’d then scan our card on an empty bike stand to lock the bike, wait a minute, unlock it, and continue biking. All the bikes seemed to be the same and after a while the only characteristics I had to look for were a high seat and working bell. Aside from those inconsistent qualities, the bikes were pretty good and exceptionally stable, which is a blessing when you have to navigate around crowds of pedestrians and brake to save yourself from turning taxis.

No Biking Sign

In some locations, bicycles were forbidden from lakeside parks. Biking around the lake was still enjoyable, but I was always eager to get near the water again, so I finally pretended to not read the Chinese signs and entered the park. I was promptly yelled at by a Chinese cop, biked away, and got a picture of the cop strolling where I had just been. There is something Soviet about the appearance of security guards and policeman here, who always seem dwarfed by their fur-lined black winter coats two sizes too large for them. What especially struck me about the Hangzhou cops was how peacefully they’d stroll around the beautiful lake shore while being attentive enough to yell in a split second at an American girl biking into the park.

Hangzhou Cop

After having fun being thrown out from three gates by three different guards, I decided to stop messing with Chinese law enforcement. However, there was one clearing next to the lake that was three meters from the bike path with a beautiful bridge and Lefang Pagoda in the background. Desperate to get the perfect picture, I carried my bike this time, placed it on its kickstand, and proceeded to take a picture. No sooner had I turned on the camera, than a guard started yelling at me about the parked bike. I communicated as best as I could with hand motions that I wasn’t biking, but just stopping to take a picture. He wasn’t pleased with my attempted explanation and started lifting the bike, so I carried it three meters back to safety.

Green Guard Enters

By this time, a green guard was approaching and they seemed to be conversing about my nerve to carry a bicycle in to take a picture. Perhaps the cop wasn’t as worried about the bike being stolen as I was. I then figured that maybe if I got the same cop to take a picture, I could keep an eye on the bike and a thief would have to be a little more gutsy to steal right next to a cop.

Cop Armed With Camera

The cop was actually quite glad to take pictures. After finding a place to put down his tea thermos, he even motioned for me to pose a few times to take photos from multiple perspectives.

Biking Around Xi Lu

A few hours before catching the train from Hangzhou back to Shanghai, I visited a bike station booth to get my deposit back. After returning my card, the woman at the booth put one finger up. I couldn’t imagine what she was referring to, since the rental fees I had accumulated couldn’t have possibly been more than the deposit. I finally asked, “yi quai?” She nodded, I handed her a one yuan coin, and she paid me back the full 300 yuan deposit. I basically paid 15 cents to rent bikes for two days. The price was completely out of proportion with how  much biking enhanced my trip to Hangzhou.

Sneak Peak of Tea Jars

I met two tourists in People’s Square, Shanghai who were attending a “tea performance.” Curious about this cultural event, I joined them and was led into a tiny room in a mall just big enough for a table and a few stools tightly gathered around it. Thankfully, one of the tourists was an English teacher from Beijing and translated this whole experience thoroughly. I was impressed that she even understood the word “suburbs” when I described where I was from in New York.

The performance started when a young girl with dyed light brown hair entered the room – brown hair is currently popular in Shanghai and people sometimes don’t believe that mine is real. She wore a traditional silk jacket that barely covered her American name-brand t-shirt, though the tea table hid her jeans well for most of the tea performance. I thought it hypocritical that she declared the event too traditional for photos, so I snapped the one above while she was briefly absent from the room.

Before the tea performance started, the girl explained the history of her teas while pointing to an illustrated one-line diagram in the menu that I think was supposed to be a map of tea country, perhaps so ancient that it predated the discovery of 2-D space. Next, some hot water was poured over a three-legged frog statue that represented the “tea god.” Once we all touched the statue for good luck, the six tastings commenced, brewed from the six glass jars pictured above. Our first tea was Ginseng, which is naturally sweet and considered good for the heart and lungs. I learned that it is polite to drink Chinese tea in three sips and hold the cup with three fingers. The thumb and index finger straddle the delicate hemisphere of a tea cup and the middle finger supports the bottom. As a woman, I was supposed to extend my pinky outward to express my supposed elegance while the man at the end of the table knew to hold his pinky in to display masculine power.

The second tea, jasmine, was delicious but had a second purpose, reducing “panda eyes,” or dark shadows around the eyes. Pink Lady, our third tea, was also sweet, comprised of 12 fruits with no sugar added. It is recommended for the elderly, children, and pregnant women, since it has many vitamins and is good for the stomach. The fourth, Guan Yin, is an oolong tea also known as “Iron Buddha’s Tea.” It is popular for lowering blood pressure and treating hangovers. As we appreciated this famous tea from the Fujian province, the girl identified the traits of good green tea: a slightly bitter taste, light green color, and fresh smell.

The fifth tea used lychee juice and was poured using dragon and phoenix cups with painted decorations that actually changed color when the hot tea was poured into them. According to the girl, such cups were used to detect water temperature in ancient times. She then served us by grasping cylindrical vessels that funneled outward with tongs and pouring the tea into our cups from about a half meter above the tabletop. After we drank the tea in three sips, we placed the cups over our eyes for good eyesight and rolled the still-warm porcelain cylinders on the sides of our faces beside our eyes. This motion supposedly prevented wrinkles.

The sixth and final tea resembled an authentic owl pellet on first glance. It was lowered into a wine glass of hot water. After a few seconds, the outer leaves unraveled and I learned that the infusion consisted of six different types of flowers wrapped in tea leaves, including a chrysanthemum and jasmine. It took at least a minute of the girl poking the pellet and stirring the glass until you see could flowers blossoming from the drab leaves. This tea is considered to be good for the throat, especially for smokers.

At the end of the ceremony, they asked each of us to pay 40 USD which suspiciously seemed to be more than the prices I had been told at the beginning. I only had 20 USD on me at the time and the other two tourists covered for me.

Much afterward, I realized that the tea ceremony is a well known scam in Shanghai and the other “tourists” were not actually paying with their money.

Shanghai Milk

Shanghainese milk is so creamy that expats have questioned whether it’s from a cow or something closer to a yak. I find the taste deliciously addicting. As one expat wrote, “I actually prefer the “milk” taste of Shanghai milk to the supposed real milk I’ve been living off of for the past 15 years in LA.” Unfortunately, the packaging for milk and yogurt look similar enough that I’ve confused them, thinking at first sip that the milk got even creamier since I last tried it. Milk powder is said to be mixed in with the real cow’s milk, but hopefully not the same powder that has been reported toxic. Just last month, high concentrations of melamine were found in Shanghai milk, reminiscent of the 2008 milk scandal here.

CargoMax

The first time I encountered CargoMax software was in 2008 when I was a cadet aboard Stolt Topaz, a chemical tanker. CargoMax is a ship stability and load management program used onboard tankers, container ships, RO-RO’s, passenger and research vessels, barges, FPSO’s, and military craft.  My classmate and I were the only Americans and the only females aboard Stolt Topaz as we sailed with the Filipino-crewed ship for two Transatlantic voyages transporting fuels, acetic acid, and the toxic and possibly carcinogenic propylene oxide from Houston to Belgium, France, and Holland. In my two months aboard, I learned the most about ships and naval architecture, improved dramatically musically, and became immersed in a completely different culture. As for CargoMax’s role, I remember arriving at my cargo watch at 0400 and drearily punching tank loading values into a computer in the cargo control room amidships while the second mate tutored me in cargo support systems and Tagalog, the national language of the Phillipines.

What I didn’t realize at that time was that the manufacturer of the software we were using was none other than Herbert Software Systems Inc, my current employer. It’s interesting to transition from the operational to design side of a distinct element of the ship’s cargo systems. Ships need a way of monitoring the cargo and ballast they have aboard and analyzing how the distribution affects the vessel’s stability and performance. CargoMax was used on Stolt Topaz to communicate with sensors in the tanks, displaying to the crew at what percent each tank was loaded. We would also overwrite the fill percentages of the tanks to predict the trim and displacement of the vessel if we were to transfer cargo between tanks or discharge ballast. Above, my coworker Daniel installs CargoMax aboard the bulk carrier Yannis Gorgias at Hudong Shipyard. The Chief Mate checks the accuracy of the program with tank capacity print-outs to ensure that the software is reporting accurate numbers. The green speck on the screen represents a plan view of one tank on the port side that has been virtually loaded.

Gondola?

From the moment I laid eyes on Xi Hu (Xi = West, Hu = Lake), I yearned to take a boat ride on it. While Suzhou is called the Venice of China, Hangzhou’s Xi Hu has a more palpable Venetian feel with its paddle-propelled ferryboats. On Saturday, I met up with Rachel, an engineer from a city near Hong Kong. She was also traveling alone, so we decided to hire a boat together.

Dragon Boat

The Dragon Boats were the most noticeable and decadent. The inspiration must have been a Viking longboat made Chinese by practically plopping two traditional buildings in the middle with a single longitudinal connecting beam.

Dragon Boat

Gaudily colored with upturned eaves, these boats featured disproportionately large figureheads. Everyone seemed to want their picture taken with the Dragon Boats.

Lions on the Stern

If this wasn’t a Chinese lake barge, I would be surprised to see enormous bronze statues placed on the poop deck for display with no worries in respect to weights and centers.

Chinese Traditional Boat

The most popular pleasure boats afloat were these wooden tour boats built in the traditional Chinese style. They were probably the most stable as well.

Row Boats

Common rowboats were the most costly since the tourists had to pay for the privelege to row themselves around the lake. The rowers on the right were having a little trouble with coordination.

Motor Boats

Small motor boats were available in one nook of the lake.

My Favorite Boat

This was my favorite boat, a loosely carvel-planked paddle-propelled boat. I say loosely-planked because a one-centimeter thick layer of adhesive was sloppily pressed into the cracks between planks.

Small Ferry Boats

We found a gathering of the small boat drivers hanging out near the lakeside who all had the same price, 80 yuan (12 USD), to hit up two islands and come back. It wasn’t until we approached a few of these groups that we realized the price was fixed and we couldn’t haggle.

Island in Xi Hu

It was frustrating to not see the beautiful landscape on the other side of the like, but the fog lent a mysterious quality to the waters.  Xi Hu seems to be one of those unique locations that is beautiful in all seasons.

Rachel & I

Here is one of the three stone structures, or “Three Pools Mirroring the Moon” that we visited (or “poos” depending on which translated map you’re carrying). These small pagodas date back to the Song Dynasty. Everyone described them as “mysterious,” which I soon came to realize meant that no one I met knew what they were, though they are featured on the 1-Yuan bill.

VIDEO

Xi Hu Boat 1

While the driver paddled us out to the islands, him and Rachel discussed the history of the lake. According to the driver, rowboats were common until it was thought improper for a person of low status to paddle around a person of high status. The same mentality led to the phasing out of rickshaws. When Nixon visited Xi Hu in 1972, he supposedly told the people that motor boats were harmful to the environment, so they switched back to rowboats. The driver also claimed that when asked what he thought of Xi Hu, Nixon stated, “the people are poor, but the lake is beautiful.”

VIDEO

Xi Hu Boat 2

A dragon boat motors by us in the second video. Our vessel, on the other hand, slid through the water like a canoe. It rolled easily in the wake of the motor boats too.

Dredger

The old-fashioned dredgers were the most unusual boats on the lake to me. West Lake was first dredged almost one thousand years ago. At that time, the sediment was used to construct the Su Causeway that traverses the lake. Now, dredging is carried out as part of a restoration effort.

Longjing Tea, Hangzhou

This weekend I traveled to Hangzhou, capital of the Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou is known, among many things, for its long leaf tea, Longjing.

Xi Hu (West Lake)

The city’s famous two-square-mile West Lake, Xi Hu, is surrounded by cultural and historic sites. An entire trip to Hangzhou can be spent just at the lake. Pedestrian paths line the lake’s perimeter and consist of many beautiful stone bridges, such as the one pictured above. Leifeng Pagoda is in the background.

Rob Tagg at The Max

I was heading over to Malone’s, a sports bar in Pudong, to see my boss, Rob Tagg, play in a pool tournament. Above, he shoots pool in last week’s tournament at The Max, his bar. He’s the Assistant Captain of their team. Since an English-speaking taxi driver is a rare phenomenon, Rob printed Malone’s address in Chinese for me. After work, I took the metro to The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and tried to find my way from there. I wanted to make sure I was starting off correctly, so I showed the address slip to a woman exiting the metro, asked “where” in Mandarin, and we proceeded to have a long conversation that I hardly understood a word of. She made motions for me to walk with her and seemed to be heading in what I had suspected was the right direction, so I followed and tried to make sense of the non-stop talking that I could only imagine meant, “I’m walking that way. I’ll show you where to go.” We exhausted the few Chinese words I know within the first minute. She kept repeating the word “bike” and pointing ahead of us. I guessed that she meant Malone’s was near a bike shop, but little did I know of the plans she was making. Then, after wriggling her right hand to indicate where I should walk, she briskly walked off the sidewalk to an apartment building without a goodbye. I felt a little lost at that point, not recognizing the area and seeing only desolate streets. After another two minutes of walking in relative uncertainty, I heard yells and the same woman was riding toward me in the bike lane. She dismounted with a big smile and patted her hand on the seat. Now I realized why I didn’t recognize where we were. She had brought me to her home, which was sort of on the way, to bike to Malone’s together. Not knowing when I’d get another opportunity to bike the streets of Shanghai, I got on the bike and we set off. It was small and rickety. With the woman seated on the back, I could only get moving safely if I kick-started with my foot for at least two meters. She was a good sport to be laughing and singing while we wobbled to cross the street, taxis speeding around right corners and passerby staring. I felt like a rickshaw driver and loved it. Not understanding her directions was problematic, as I had to turn around to see her hand motions while trying not to hit the carts and mopeds in the bike lane. After only about 10 minutes, we reached Thumb Plaza and she repeated a word that I couldn’t understand. She then made a rectangular symbol with her fingers and I thought she was demanding money until she said “paper,” surprising me with her English. I showed her the address slip again and she was happier than I was that we got to our destination. I wanted to tell her how much I enjoyed biking with her, but all I could manage to say was “I like” in Mandarin and point to the bike. We then went our separate ways.

Shanghai Condom Machine

Unfortunately, The Max had a team of 7 that was lined up against the home team of 15 and lost with many close matches. During the game, over the voluptuous sounds of Lady Gaga, I chatted with an Israeli from the other team who claimed he was a condom machine salesman.  I told him about one of my favorite films, The Closet, a French comedy about a man who pretends to be homosexual to get his job back at a condom factory, and he seemed interested. I still didn’t believe him, so I questioned him and realized that he works for the AIDS department in Shanghai with a Chinese partner and four other Chinese guys. Supposedly, he is the sole condom machine salesman in Shanghai on a government contract needed for his line of business. He doesn’t exactly sell the machines but sets them up in locations like bars and takes in the majority of the profit. The bar gets a small piece of it too. The condom factory is in Fuzhou outside of Shanghai and his distribution project just started. When I asked if he liked Shanghai, he replied that he liked the culture and people, but that if they were smart, he wouldn’t be there. With the Shanghai Expo coming up, the city especially wants to emphasize contraception. Later, he pointed to a pregnant woman and commented in a thick Israeli accent, “see, she didn’t use a condom,” shaking his head and looking puffed up about his mission in Shanghai. Legally, condoms are supposed to be available in every public place, but that law has been ignored with the exception of a few outdoor units. There’s a rusty one outside of my building, pictured above.

Shanghai Restaurant

This little restaurant at 456 Jinling Dong Lu, East of People’s Square, opened on January 1st and has been packed almost every night since.  I happened to stop by on January 2nd, was treated very well, and have gone back a number of times. Shanghai restaurants have extraordinarily high turnover rates, so I was especially excited to find a new business to track the progress of. The place’s name translates to Steamed Treasure From Eight Sides, which advertises the diversity of foods served, including Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, and traditional Chinese cuisine. The menu is considered to be an experimental blend of both modern and ancient tastes. To the managers, chefs, and waiters, though, the name has more than just a culinary meaning. Each individual, whether customer or employee,  is an asset to the business and adds to its wealth of diversity.

Jackie Lin

The restaurant has two managers, Jackie Lin and his Taiwanese business partner, a former professor of business at Fudan University, Shanghai. Jackie speaks pretty good English and teaches me a little Chinese every time I visit. Above, he is kindly writing some survival phrases for me (though I can’t read the Chinese alphabet…). Foreigners automatically feel more comfortable with Jackie around to translate for them, but what most of them probably don’t realize is that the restaurant, Jackie’s passion, is not his only occupation. As a day job, he is a security guard at a steel shop and his schedule is lengthy. He leaves his home at 0630, takes a bus to the steel shop, works from 0800 to 1600, takes another bus to the restaurant, and manages from 1830 to around 2200 or 2300. He always looks tired when I stop by. From what I can tell, this is a typical Shanghainese lifestyle. Jackie’s partner, the professor, can always be found reclining against one of the back seats with his legs crossed and a cigarette casually held in his left hand. Friends drop by to chat. This also seems to be a typical Shanghainese lifestyle. According to Jackie, the professor has helped found over 2000 stores, not all his own businesses, ranging from Tibetan restaurants to coffee shops and bars. When he was in his 20’s, he studied small business development in Japan.

Japanese Chicken Soup

Pictured above is a Japanese dish, salty chicken soup served in a teapot, that I tried on the house. Below, is a Korean dish of meat, egg, and vegetables over rice. This is one of the restaurant’s most expensive dishes priced at about 28 RMB or 4 USD. Rice at the bottom is always burned by the hot ceramic, but the burnt rice actually tastes good. About half of the menu – no English, just pictures – is Taiwanese and there’s a special bun that Jackie plans to launch soon and has great hopes for. Last time I visited, I interviewed Jackie about the ordeals of starting a restaurant business in Shanghai.  In January ’09, he conceived of the idea of the restaurant and started looking for a location in June ’10. It wasn’t until November ’09 that he found his current location on Jinling Lu. Unfortunately, another buyer was vying for the same place and had more money upfront. Jackie kept trying, though he had no written objectives, and after many discussions with the landlord he sold his idea. He attributes this success to his “special and new” styles of blending common foods. Each chef at his restaurants can prepare about 100 dishes, though they typically stick to their specialties. Most of them responded to online postings and only after an interview did the managers judge if the cook was a good fit for their restaurant. In the first 12 days of operation, about 8 staff left and 10 joined. His core staff includes two others who speak English and one who speaks Japanese.

Korean Dish

Construction on the 1920’s French-style building started on December 3. To give you an idea of Shanghai progress, the restaurant started with no furniture or kitchen, but was complete by January 1st, opening day. Furniture and kitchen devices were chosen from a local Shanghai factory within this one-month window of construction. Only the floor remains the same. Moreover, since then, authorities’ remarks have resulted in small modifications to the restaurant design, including a more prominent barrier between the kitchen and dining area. Now that the Shanghai Expo is approaching, authorities are inspecting restaurants about twice a month.

Jackie and His Restaurant

The restaurant  serves almost 150 a day. Not bad for a small start-up. “Someday I’ll write a book ,” Jackie suggested with a shrug and proceeded to explain how every aspect of his business venture happened by chance. When he was a little boy, he had wanted his own business and the thought of running a restaurant crossed his mind. Now, he considers his dream to have come true. Though he still toils through his steel job, he has something to live for.

Red Antique Boxes

These markets have a liberal definition of the word “antique,” ranging from authentic red Mao soldier books to items made last year.

Blind Sidewalk

I took this picture close to where I work at the World Plaza in Pudong. Look closely to discern the strip of patterned sidewalk that bypasses the manhole on the left. At first, I thought that this line of bumpy tile found throughout the city was just decoration to give the city’s streets a common look. It’s less pleasant to walk over than the flat area, so I also guessed that it could be meant to ward off the cyclists and motorcyclists who occasionally use the sidewalks even though they have their own lane.

Blind Strip

When I saw the same strip in the metro, I knew it had to have a function.  A continuous blind sidewalk is common in Chinese cities, but I have never seen a blind person use the one in Shanghai.  On a separate note, look at the television screen in the subway. Though the transit and wait times are relatively short compared to NYC – I’ve never waited for more than 7 minutes – screens are also located in each metro car. These days, they’ve been showing almost nonstop footage of the Haiti quake, breaking only for Chinese commercials. Lastly, note the platform-to-ceiling glass that contain people on the platform when it’s crowded and probably keep government HVAC expenditures down. Previously, subways rides and taxi fares were more expensive. Now, the government subsidizes public transportation. As locals say, “our government is very rich.” Shanghai takes good care of the people within its jurisdiction.

Wusong Estuary

Wusong is a port town in the Baoshan District of Shanghai where the Huangpu tributary flows into the Yangtze River. Ken and Aili, along with their friend from Wusong, brought me along to a waterside park in Wusong that preserves the estuary to inhibit local habitat destruction. After getting accustomed to Shanghai crowds, it was both refreshing and eerie to walk in a quiet park. It’s the closest thing I’ve seen to nature since coming here.

Canons at Wusong Park

Wusong Emplacement Memorial Square commemorates the port’s role in the Opium War of 1842 and wars with Japan. Featured above are cannons that once lined the Huangpu and Yangtze Rivers. The cannons were positioned in such a way to make the memorial look active, as if the armaments were still defending the port. There were also glass-enclosed exhibits of captured British cannon replicas. I’m not sure if the replicas were on display because the real ones were too precious to place in the park, or because no enemy cannons were captured.

Climbing the Canon

The sole security guard told us that since no one else was there that day, we could climb the canon at the center of the square. It was used to fight the British in the Opium War.

Fruit Trees

To get our money’s worth, we threw water bottles at the park’s fruit trees. Boys sat nearby devouring the fruit while watching our frustration. After we left, they returned to the tree with long sticks to shake the branches.

Fruit

Aili finally got one, but though it looked like a sweet orange, it ended up tasting like a grapefruit.

Chinese Signs

I appreciate signs that I can understand without being literate in Chinese.