Fun With Textbook Translations

I have a unit test this week, and as part of my review I thought I would translate some of the dialogues in my textbook. The textbook is quite good in that the dialogues, which form the core of each chapter and are designed to employ the new vocabulary and grammar, are printed only in Chinese characters—no pinyin, no English. It's much better that way, but I thought the exercise of producing English translations could be interesting. And this way I can share with you what sort of things I'm learning.

The following are not word-for-word translations. If I had done that, what you would see would be the epitome of the "Chinglish" that people laugh about and post on their blogs. Instead, I've finessed the final result (especially regarding the "glue" that hold English sentences together - prepositions, conjunctions, etc) into readable, logical English that conveys the same meaning as the original Chinese. In some cases, the result still seems a bit peculiar. That's the result of a decision on my part to preserve some of the unique cultural aspects that make Chinese what it is.

The dialogues revolve around a cast of characters who we have gotten to know over 26 chapters in 2 books. Each chapter contains a set of dialogues usually centered around one theme, or event. Some are more interesting than others. Some are more utilitarian than others. The chapter on the Beijing Opera, for instance, is probably not going to be of much use to me, as I'm not a fan of this high-pitched art form and its oddly made-up performers. This chapter is particularly humorous as it really seems to be promoting the idea that foreigners love the Beijing Opera. It's my impression that not only do most foreigners avoid it, but most Chinese young people haven't much interest in it, either. Our textbook's cast of characters seems to be living in a different world.

That's not surprising, since it is a publication of the Beijing Cultural and Language University Press. In addition to teaching the language, its mission includes promoting "official Chinese culture".

The theme of the chapter on farmers and improvements in their standard of living is much more interesting, but contains lines that I can't really imagine many farmers actually saying, like "The problem is that we farmers' education level is still much lower than that of city folk."

Then there is the time Ma Dawei's bicycle was stolen, and the police actually caught the thief and helped him recover his bicycle. I laughed out loud when I read this. Bicycle theft is a common problem, and I'm sure the recovery rate is close to zero. Little bit of China's official "70% good news, 30% bad news" policy going on here?

And then there are lines like this: "Just do as some foreign students do and find yourself a Chinese girl to be your wife. You can find a handsome-looking young Chinese man to be your husband. You can speak to each other in Chinese every day, and soon enough you'll be just like a Chinese person!" Haha. We also learned a word which means "to become Sinicized". 

Here are the translations for Chapters 21-26 (in reverse order):

Chapter 26 - The foreign students review their progress 

Song Hua: Lin Na, you've been in China one year already, haven't you? You've not only learned Chinese, but also made many Chinese friends, and your understanding of China's situation is not small. In not long, you'll be an "Old China Hand."

Lin Na: You flatter me, I really don't deserve such a title. I still have a long way to go. Honestly speaking, I'm becoming more and more fond of Chinese culture. From north to south, west to east, every place in China has its own characteristics.

Song Hua: The history museum is holding an exhibition right now called "China 2002". It has lots of pictures, some of which we've seen before, and some of which we haven't. Since you are so interested in Chinese culture, I suggest that you go and have a look.

Lin Na: That's terrific, I'll definitely go. Today we're having a party to celebrate the end of the term. Li Bo and the others will be here shortly. You can tell them this information, I think they'll also surely be interested. 

Song Hua: Ok. Lin Na, do you remember? When you first came here, you said if you were only going to be allowed to eat Chinese food you'd starve to death! Now you not only like to eat Chinese food, but you can even make some Chinese dishes.

Lin Na: That's right. Now, if I go one day without eating Chinese food, I don't feel quite right. 

Ma Dawei: What are you two chatting about? Where are you going for Chinese food? Count me in.

Song Hua: We were just saying how you laowai (friendly term for foreigners) are fast becoming China experts. Needless to say, Li Bo is also one.

Ding Li Bo: Naturally, because my mother is Chinese, I've been able to adapt to Chinese culture quickly. But look at Lin Na here, she loves to wear her chengsam (traditional Chinese dress), eat Chinese food, watch the Shaoxing Opera, and listen to Chinese folk music. It seems that she, too, is becoming somewhat Sinicized.

Lin Na: It wasn't until after I arrived in Beijing that I began to be Sinicized.

Ma Dawei: I see this is easy. Just do as some foreign students do and find yourself a Chinese girl to be your wife. You can find a handsome-looking young Chinese man to be your husband. You can speak to each other in Chinese every day, and soon enough you'll be just like a Chinese person!

Lin Na: Don't joke around. Honestly though, I now feel that Chinese grammar is not too difficult. For me, it's the characters that are difficult.

Ma Dawei: The tones are also not easy. I often misspeak.

Song Hua: You've only been studying in China for one year, but your Chinese level has improved really quickly. That's mainly because you've put forth such a great effort.

Ding Li Bo: The teachers here take their work very seriously. Also, our friends are very warm-hearted, often helping us to study Chinese so that we can progress quickly.

Lin Na: One year of study is too short. Although I'm already able to understand some of what Chinese people say, my own speaking is still not too fluent. Next year I will again come to China to study. 

Ma Dawei: Lin Na, the teachers and classmates are all waiting for us. Let's go.

Ding Li Bo: Okay, next year "Old China Hands"!

Lin Na: Song Hua, do you want to accompany me tomorrow to see the "China 2002" exhibition.

Song Hua: Sure, see you tommorrow!

Lin Na: Alright, wait for me there.

Chapter 25 - Lin Na gets in an accident 

Little Yun: Song Hua, can you come here and help us?

Song Hua: What's happened? Where are you?

Little Yun: Lin Na was wounded in an accident, right now she's at the #3 Hospital being examined.

Song Hua: Where was she injured? Is it serious?

Little Yun: The exam isn't finished yet. Can you bring some money with you?

Song Hua: Sure, wait for me, I'll be right right there.

Song Hua: Lin Na, How are you? Is it very serious?

Lin Na: It's not too bad. My arm was struck, and my right leg hurts a bit.

Song Hua: How did this happen?

Lin Na: Hmm, how should I put it? This afternoon Xiaoyun and I went to see a movie, and afterwards were riding back to school on our bikes. We were talking and laughing and, as we made a right turn, weren't paying attention. That's when I ran into a car. The car was stopped by the side of the road and the driver was taking things out of the car.

Song Hua: How did you get to the hospital?

Lin Na: That driver saw that I had been hurt, and he quickly brought me to the hospital.

Song Hua: That driver is not bad at all!

Lin Na: We didn't have much money on us, so he helped us pay the hospital fees. He gave us his card.

Song Hua: You really ought to thank that driver. Tomorrow I'll go and return his money. To think, just now I thought you'd been struck by a car!

Lin Na: Fortunately, I was the one who struck the car. If I had been struck by the car, I'd be in an awful mess right now!

Lu Yuping: Dawei, Lin Na's dormitory door is open, she's lying down watching TV right now.

Lin Na: Ah, Lu Yuping, Dawei, come in, come in.

Ma Dawei: Lin Na, how are you? Are you feeling better?

Lin Na: Much better. You two are so busy, yet you still managed to come see and bring me flowers? Thank you so much. This bunch of flowers is really pretty. You can put it on the table.

Ma Dawei: How were the test results?

Lin Na: The doctor says there's no serious problem. He just told me to get a lot of rest. Dawei, can you turn off the TV? I want to talk for a while.

Lu Yuping: Does your arm still hurt?

Lin Na: No, it doesn't hurt. But it bends like this. Writing characters will not be very convenient. Last week I did badly on my Chinese character test, and now I have hurt my arm. What bad luck! These last few days have been nothing but bad news.

Ma Dawei: Don't worry, I have some good news.

Lin Na: What is it?

Ma Dawei: Last Saturday my bicycle was stolen by a thief.

Lin Na: A stolen bicycle? What kind of good news is that?

Ma Dawei: Listen, before I came here I got a call from the police station telling me to go over there.

Lin Na: What's happening at the police station?

Ma Dawei: The thief was caught, and my missing bicycle was also found. It's at the police station right now. Now tell me, is this or isn't this good news?

Lin Na: It's good news.

Lu Yuping: Congratulations!

Chapter 24 - Little Yun's uncle comes for a visit and tells about the farmers' improvements

Ding Libo: Has the train arrived yet?

Little Yun: The T23 train from Shanghai to Beijing will arrive at 8:40. Right now, it's 8:30, it will be here shortly.

Ding Libo: Your uncle is a farmer, right?

Little Yun: Well, yes. In the past he farmed in a suburb of Shanghai, but now now he's the manager of a vegetable company.

Ding Libo: Has he been to Beijing?

Little Yun: He's been two twice, but both times I wasn't there. Last time he came, I was in the South traveling.

Ding Libo: Look, that man is asking for directions. Let's go over and have a look, see if it's your uncle or not.

Little Yun: It seems like him. It was ten years ago when I last saw him, these ten years have seen great change. Not only will he not recognize me, but I might not be able to recognize him. 

Ding Libo: That's right. The last time you saw him you were a little girl, and now you're you a young lady!

Little Yun: Haha, my uncle is also older. Is that man looking at a map?

Ding Libo: He's not looking at a map, he seems to be looking at a photograph. He's walking towards us.

Little Yun: It seems like my uncle. Not bad, it is my uncle! Uncle, hello!

Uncle Wang: Little Yun! It's been ten years since I've seen you, now you're a college student? Which grade are you in this year?

Little Yun: I'm in my third year of college.

Uncle Wang: Do you have a boyfriend?

Little Yun: Uncle, this is my classmate Ding Libo. He is a foreign student from Canada.

Ding Libo: Hello, you must have had a tiring journey. It's going to start raining soon, let's get a cab.

Little Yun: What about auntie? Why has she not come? She said she was going to come to Beijing with you.

Uncle Wang: Your aunti is planting greenhouse vegetables. She's quite busy, and wasn't able to come this time.

Little Yun: How are your earnings from the vegetables.

Unce Wang: Now that we're growing greenhouse vegetables, our earnings are much higher than before.

Little Yun: How are living conditions at home?

Uncle Wang: Living conditions are alright. Two years ago we built a small two-floor building, and last year we bought an automobile. Now, traveling to other cities is very convenient.

Ding Libo: Your standard of living is even higher than that of city folk!

Uncle Wang: Our village's diet, clothes, and residential standard of living are not bad compared to city folk. The problem is that we farmers' education level is still much lower.

Little Yun: Surely the farmer's education level is not too bad.

Uncle Wang: You're right. The farmers are beginning to study new technologies. Our greenhouse vegetable operation uses computer technology to manage. Your auntie also has begun using a computer.

Little Yun: This year I surely want to go visit you two!

The students talk about their vacation plans and go hiking on the Great Wall

Teacher Chen: What are your and your classmates plans this upcoming holiday?

Lin Na: Some classmates will go traveling, and some will go 

Teacher Chen: And you, Little Yun?

Little Yun: I plan to first go to Taishan, then return home to visit my parents.. Lin Na, have you been to Taishan?

Lin Na: This time I want to go to Hainan Island for traveling.

Little Yun: Are you going with Song Hua?

Lin Na: Yes, going to Hainan Island was his idea.

Little Yun: Are you taking an airplane or train?

Lin Na: We're taking a plane. We already bought the ticket. And Libo? Isn't he going to Taishan?

Little Yun: Yes, he says he wants to go climb from the bottom to the top of the mountain, then from the peak go down. He furthermore says he wants to first climb Taishan, and then go visit the place where Confucius taught.

Lin Na: By the way, where is Dawei going?

Little Yun: Little Yan suggested he go to Hainan as well. She says the weather there right now is quite good, the temperature very suitable for swimming, and it is also possible to see some exquisite scenery. Right now it's winter in Beijing, but in Hainan it's possible to live a summer lifestyle. How interesting!

Lin Na: Little Yan is a professional tour guide. She knows a lot about travel-related matters, so you ought to listen to what she has to say. Is Dawei going to go with us?

Little Yun: Dawei suggested that before the vacation we all go to the Great Wall. Teacher Chen, are you able to go with us?

Teacher Chen: Yes, I'd love to go.

Little Yun: Teacher Chen, Lin Na, hurry up...you can do it!

Teacher Chen: What about Li Bo and Dawei?

Little Yun: They've already climbed higher. They'll soon reach the top.

Teacher Chen: Don't worry. Lin Na and I feel a litttle tired. We're going to sit down and rest a bit. First drink some water, then we'll keep on climbing.

Lin Na: The view here is really beautiful. The Great Wall seems like a dragon. And down there it looks like a train coming out form under the mountain. I'm going to take some pictures to send home.

Little Yun: Have you been here before?

Lin Na: Yes, I came in the fall. The scenery then was different than now.

Little Yun: Yeah, right now it's winter. Today is cloudy and it might snow.

Lin Na: Look, you can see some snow over there on the Great Wall. How beautiful.

Teacher Chen: Today's temperature is 10° below zero. But do you know? Today it is 20° in Guangzhou!

Lin Na: China is very big. North China is still so cold, but spring has already arrived in South China. Look, why is Li Bo coming down here?

Ding Li Bo: Hey, why haven't you guys reached the top yet? Do you need some help?

Little Yun: No, you don't need to run. We can reach the top by ourselves. Teacher Chen, have you rested enough?

Teacher Chen: Yes, Little Yun, will you help me up?

Lin Na: Come on, let's climb the Great Wall!

Chapter 22 - Lin Na and Song Hua talk about the Beijing Opera and Shaoxing Opera

Song Hua: Lin Na, have you seen the Shaoxing Opera?

Lin Na: No. Since coming to China, I've seen the Beijing Opera once and attended two music concerts. Although I've been to Southern China, I haven't seen the Shaoxing Opera. Yesterday's newspaper says an opera troupe from Southern China has arrived in Beijing.

Song Hua: That's right, Shaoxing Opera is one of China's famous regional operas. This opera troupe is from Shanghai, and they're currently putting on a production of Dream of the Red Chamber at the Chang'an Theatre.

Lin Na: A production of Dream of the Red Chamber? How wonderful! I know Dream of the Red Chamber is one of China's famous classical novel. I saw it once, but it was using an English translation.

Song Hua: What did you think of this novel?

Lin Na: I think the love story in this novel is very moving.

Song Hua: Would you like to see the Dream of the Red Chamber again? I have two tickets.

Lin Na: Of course I'd like to go. The tickets are for what time?

Song Hua: Tomorrow evening at 7:15. The seats are very good, on the lower level, row 5 seats 8 and 10.

Lin Na: I've haven't been to the Chang'an Theatre. Where is it?

Song Hua: I've been. From Jiangguo Gate, the Chang'an Theatre is not far, it's just to the west of Jiangguo Gate. We can go there together by taxi.

Lin Na: Okay, see you tomorrow.

Song Hua: So, what do you think of the Shaoxing Opera performance of Dream of the Red Chamber. 

Lin Na: I have never seen such a moving opera. The two lead actors performed extraordinarily well. I think the Shaoxing Opera's music is particularly elegant. The Shaoxing Opera's style and manner is very different compared to those of the Beijing Opera.

Song Hua: You're right. Maybe you don't know....in the old days, the Beijing Opera didn't have female actors, and the female characters were played by male actors. The Shaoxing Opera is different. In the old days there were no male actors, and the male characters were played by female actors. So the Shaoxing Opera is very different than the Beijing opera in style and manner.

Lin Na: I heard there are very many different kinds of regional opera in China. Does every region have one?

Song Hua: Yes, every region has its own style and manner. Every region's people are accustomed to their own regional opera, but Beijing Opera belongs to the entire country and its fans are many.

Lin Na: China's Beijing Opera trouble came to England two years ago for a visit. I went with my parents to see them perform one time. They both felt that the Beijing Opera is very beautiful.

Song Hua: Lots of foreign friends like China's Beijing Opera, and a few foreign students have also come to Beijing to study the Beijing Opera. Now, some of them can sing the Beijing Opera, and some can perform it on stage.

Lin Na: I have one friend, a foreign student from England. She can perform the Beijing Opera.

Song Hua: I have never heard of a foreign student singing the Shaoxing Opera. Since you like the Shaoxing Opera so much, you ought to study it a bit.

Lin Na: Although I like the Shaoxing Opera, I think that singing it is too difficult.

Song Hua: Your voice is very good. You can first listen to it, and then learn how to sing it.

Chapter 21 - The reporter asks a lot of boring questions about a soccer game and Dawei's new apartment

Lu Yuping: I heard last week your foreign students team won a soccer match. I am writing an article to introduce the foreign students soccer team and their affairs.

Ding Li Bo: That's great. How did you find out about this?

Lu Yuping: I heard about it from your classmates. Don't forget, I am a reporter, I came here today to ask you questions. Against whom was your team playing?

Ding Li Bo: The match was against the Chinese college students' team.

Lu Yuping: Where was the match?

Little Yun: It was at our school.

Lu Yuping: The Chinese college students' team's level is higher than yours, isn't it?

Ding Li Bo: Their level is much higher than ours.

Little Yun: Song Hua says their coach just came down from the national team to coach here.

Lu Yuping: When did he come down from the national team?

Little Yun: He came here last year. Ever since then, the Chinese college students' team's level has increased very quickly.

Ding Li Bo: Their number 10 on their team kicks very well. Number 5 on the left side and number 12 on the right side both run very fast.

Lu Yuping: And the foreign students' team?

Ding Li Bo: Our team members are from many different countries, and we aren't able to practice very often

Lu Yuping: How did your team win?

Ding Li Bo: In the first half, the score was 0 to 0. In the second half they helped us by scoring a goal in our net by mistake. We won 1 to 0!

Lu Yuping: I'd still like to ask you some questions. Have you been to see Dawei's new apartment? Where is is apartment?

Little Yun: I've been, his apartment is on the east side of the school, not too far from the school. The place is called Garden District. Dawei lives in building number 8.

Lu Yuping: How did you get there?

Ding Li Bo: We took the bus. The bus stop is near the Garden District. After getting off the bus, first turn right, then walk straight ahead for three minutes and you'll arrive at number 8.

Lu Yuping: How is it there?

Ding Li Bo: It's nice. Below is a small garden, to the left is a small shop, and next to the shop is a bookstore. On the right side is a bank and post office. Dawei's apartment is on the ninth floor, and above him are another six floors.

Lu Yuping: The apartment's not too big, is it?

Little Yun: His suite altogether is 56 square meters.

Ding Li Bo: After entering, on the left side is the bathroom, and on the right is the living room.

Lu Yuping: Where is the kitchen?

Little Yun: The kitchen is to the north of the living room, and the bedroom is to the east of the living room. Outside the bedroom there is a large balcony. 

Ding Li Bo: Mr. Reporter, you have asked lots of questions, are you also going to write an article introducing Dawei's apartment?

Lu Yuping: Asking question is a reporter's professional habit.

On bicycling, urban morphology, the hollowness of mass consumerism, historic preservation, and bohemian haunts

I was going to begin this blog entry by profusely apologizing for the inexcusable period of time that has elapsed since my last substantive entry. That is, until I read a sardonic piece in "That's Shanghai" magazine exhorting all would-be bloggers, in a step-by-step "how to blog" guide, to do just that (the implication being, of course, that acting as if your adoring public is waiting breathlessly on your every word is the epitome of narcissism). So no apologies! Back to the blog.

I sometimes bestow minor acts of kindness upon strangers, like holding the elevator or stopping for pedestrians when I'm on my bicycle. Sometimes I'm actually treated to an English (and often surprised) "Thank you!"

I've read other expats say that you just have to adapt to "Chinese public manners" which means being willing to push and shove your way into a crowded stairway or subway train, among other things. I haven't changed my public manners too much. At the subway station, people always bunch up waiting to get on the escalator. I usually just take the stairs.

It frustrates me that some stations turn both escalators to the up direction so that all the downward traffic is forced to use the stairs. During busy times, this means anyone who wants to walk upstairs has to swim upstream against a momentous downward force.

But mostly, you just learn to live with crowds. They're biggest on Sunday afternoons, when everyone goes out to walk around the street markets and enjoy the day off. You just have to adjust your pace. I don't mind it.

Riding a bicycle is another thing. You have to ride defensively here.
Just as important, you have to accept your lowly place in the vehicular hierarchy. Just because you have a green light doesn't mean you can proceed across an intersection unhindered. Motor vehicles with red lights don't stop for right turns if they can help it; they'll happily cut in front of traffic with a green light right-of-way, especially if its of the two-wheeled persuasion. Likewise with left turns on green lights. Motor vehicles don't yield to bicyclists going straight on green. Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death in Shanghai. Cavalier cycling won't suffice here. I purchased a bell for my bike, but rear-view mirrors for bicycles don't seem to exist in this country, so I created my own using a cosmetic mirror and some duct tape.

But bicycling in Shanghai is not all bad.
Most of the large streets have bike lanes that are separated from the main traffic stream by barricades. You still have the share the lane with motorbikes and rural migrants pushing medieval hand carts, but at least the damage potential is lower. Bicyclists tend to bunch up at intersections, so that when entering on a green light, you have a small measure of "safety in numbers". If the bicyclists have a critical mass, they might actually be able to collectively fend off a car attempting to turn right on red.

My bicycle commute to school each morning is a pretty reliable 25 minutes. There are about 10 traffic signals on the route, and I usually have to stop at about 5 of them, some for several minutes at a time.
Between my apartment and school are mostly long, wide blocks. In other parts of the city, which I am beginning to explore in greater depth, the character of the urban fabric varies significantly.
Some streets are good for bicycling and some aren't. On some, bicyclists (and motorbikes, too) are outright banned. These are usually the high-end shopping streets where the local government has decided two-wheeled folks would taint the ambiance of luxury they're trying to cultivate.

But that's just as well for me, because the streets where bicyclists can and do go are much more interesting. I've found that the best streets to bicycle are the smaller, narrow streets lined with small shops and restaurants and older housing. Every year, more and more of these streets disappear under the wrecking balls of the relentless development machine, but fortunately there are still lots of them here. Despite being narrow, many are actually quite long, serving as essential arteries of mobility through this sprawling city. Best of all, few cars venture into these back streets.

The more I explore Shanghai, the more I like.
And in light of my love-hate relationship with the city, that's a good thing.
On the surface there are lots of things to dislike.
Like the rampant consumer culture and accompanying domineering, alienating built form that dominate much of the city's many visible streetscapes.
As someone who's always been fairly disdainful of mass consumer culture, Shanghai's myriad colossal shopping centers can sometimes seem soul-crushing.
Walking through these malls, I can't help but feel sorry for the hundreds of shopgirls (they're always women) with nothing to do. Many are programmed to smile and greet every passer-by with a formulaic "huanying guanling" (we welcome your gracious presence", which, in its endless repetition, rings insincerity. Many don't even bother with the greetings anymore, and sit, bored, tapping away into their mobile devices, which are always fancier than mine.

As is the case with consumerism everywhere, there's a hollowness here. But whereas I would describe that hollowness at home as more more spiritual and psychological, here it has economic dimensions too. The local politicians who issue permits encourage mega-developments like this, whether or not there's an actual underlying demand for it. For them, this accomplishes two goals: it lines their pockets with kickbacks, and it gives them something they can show off to visiting bigwigs from Beijing. But the result is unhealthy imbalance between supply and demand. The first floor of the Cloud Nine Shopping Center across from my apartment is always busy, but if you climb the next seven floors it looks progressively more and more like a ghost town. Most of the foot traffic, in any case, is just window shopping. In all of the times I've walked through the first floor of that shopping center (and it's a lot of times, as the most direct route from my apartment to the subway and bus stations passes directly through it), I've never seen a single customer buying anything from the booth selling $100 mud facial masks.

These malls are one face of China, and it is increasingly the one of choice for many of China's movers and shakers. Thankfully, however, it's not the only face. If it were, then I don't think I could stay in Shanghai. I would suffocate of boredom, drown in a sea of Papa Johns and Cartier. No, mercifully the city of Shanghai is a diverse place. There are people here from every province in China, and people from most countries on Earth. There are rich and poor and everyone in between. And there are goods and services to meet that diverse assemblage of consumers. After all, we're all consumers, from the richest of us to the poorest. Sometimes I get a little careless in my anti-consumerism tirades. In reality, there's a great deal of consumerism in China that I think is fantastic: its the informal economy of the neighborhood markets, the wet markets, the street markets, the people selling things out of wagons attached to their bicycles. These markets have been functioning in China for thousands of years, and I hope that no amount of luxury shopping mall construction will stop that. But I do wonder when I see the clear generational divide between who shops at the former and who shops at the latter.

The built environment of Shanghai is varied, too. Despite all the recent development, all the blocks inundated by cranes and 24/7 construction work, all the destruction and displacement and renewal, significant chunks of older urban forms still survive. And increasingly, some are even being actively preserved.

The first time I came to Shanghai, I saw the "Old Chinese city" around Yu Garden, and the French Concession, which both contain lots of historical and well-preserved (or well-rebuilt in an "old style") architecture. But there's a lot I didn't see on that first trip that I'm finding now. One place is Duolun Road. One of my new friends, a Shanghai native, took me there last week. During the early 20th century it was a hive of activity for China's writers, bookbinders, poets, and political activists whose agitations helped bring about the Republic of China in 1911. For many years the area fell into disrepair, but a few years ago it was cleaned up and now is home to a number of antique shops and historical sights. It has the makings of a very touristy place, but doesn't seem to have hit that stage yet. I found no mention of the street in any of my travel books, and the place was mostly deserted on the Tuesday afternoon in late March when I visited. After entertaining a friend from out of town at the very touristy antique market near Yu Garden the previous week, I found Duolun Road's antique markets a refreshing (if dusty) alternative, full of real antiques and authentic artwork from the communist period.

Another recent find is Taikang Road. Its a maze of pedestrian alleys tucked into a block of old houses that is chock-full of art galleries, hip stores selling Andy Warhol-style images of Mao Zedong alongside Obama "hope" posters, cozy cafes, and international restaurants. The place clearly aims for the same monied clientele that the shopping centers do, but it feels much more akin with cool, slightly edgy, "bohemian" neighborhoods in certain European and American cities. There are no chains, just independent, creative businesses. And while I'm sure there are some serious gentrification forces at work driving up rents for the area's traditional residents, there is still a visible coexistence of the bohemian commercial infrastructure and the old Shainghainese going about their daily business. It's a much more organic, edgy version of another historically preserved commercial development which I wrote about in an earlier post, Xintiandi.

The city is big. The blocks are enormous. Compared to almost any city I can think of in the United States, the density of the urban street grid in Shanghai is far less dense. Yet, at the same time, the overall population density, I'm sure, is far, far denser than even America's most dense cities. That's because Shanghai's huge blocks are full of huge apartment buildings. A lot of the local-level street life occurs inside these apartment blocks, a remnant of communist era urban planning which focused all a person's activities―work, home, recreation―around self-contained units.
The enormous scale of many of these blocks, and the infrastructure that inhabits them, makes for some very un-pedestrian friendly streetscapes. So I prefer to seek out the streetscapes that are more human-scaled. I plan on doing a series of urban transects, complete with photographs and detailed written descriptions of the architecture, urban form, and street life one encounters as one walks along these different streets in Shanghai. Look for that in the coming weeks and months.

And now I'll leave you with a few pictures from my flickr page:

A small urban park (I don't know its name) in the Hongqiao District in Shanghai. The sign in this photograph is noteworthy for two reasons. First, everyone likes a little Chinglish: "enjoy a mordern lifestyle".But more importantly is the second half of the dictum: ""Eco life-style". More evidence of how thoroughly the rhetoric of the green movement has diffused into China (degree to which it's actually practiced notwithstanding)

Someone knew exactly what they were doing here. The Chinese pinyin word "zhou" is pronounced exactly like "Joe" is pronounced in English. Thus, "Trader Joe's". That's Chinese intellectual property rights for you.

Chinese grandfathers are the sweetest.

Bringing your cat to the public park? Without a leash.
That's one placid cat!














In flux - every couple weeks they send a team of construction workers to tear up the stalls in the atrium of the mall near my apartment and replace them with new stalls.

Embarrassed, me not this table! (and other stories of renewing one's visa in China)

My current visa expires in 5 weeks and I need to get it renewed. But first I had to get the Temporary resident registration form. I should have done it when I first moved into my apartment 3 weeks ago, but it was no big deal. My real estate agent, Jane, went to the Public Security Bureau (China's rather cryptic name for the Police) with me yesterday, and after waiting in line for a while, the police lady (who Jane knows on a personal basis because she does this for all her clients) gave me exactly what I needed.

Now, to get the visa renewed is a bit of a hassle. Shanghai apparently isn't renewing visas right now because they're tightening security in the lead-up to the World Expo. But my school will help me send my passport to Beijing and get the visa there. It will cost $250, which is twice as much as I paid at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. Kind of surprised by that, but not much I can do. Important thing is, I'm taking care of this early, and I should get my renewal without a problem.

That's a far cry from the idiot whose blog I'm about to quote. The guy is an English teacher in China and his blog is the #3 result when you Google "renew visa in china" (I'm not going to link to it here because I don't want to further contribute to Google's directing people to his blog). He begins by saying "it is my fault" but then devolves into a tirade about why it is in fact the fault of all those unhelpful, neglectful, majiang-playing Chinese people. What an idiot. He waits until 3 days before his visa expires and then expects bureaucrats to wait on him hand and foot? I guarantee if foreigners in the United States tried the same thing, they would face a similar impasse. This is a perfect example of the kind of offensive, self-entitled, tactless expat mindset that I despise. Notice how quickly he segues from his immediate visa problem to what he sees as the wider problem of Chinese culture itself.

It is my fault. I shouldn’t have waited until three days before my visa expires to look into renewing it. I just never thought the process would be so difficult. Dealing with government officials in China is enough to want to make me pound my head against a slab of concrete for an hour. I walked into a local police station this afternoon with the intent of renewing my visa, which in my situation, I should be able to do quite easily. These people almost completely ignored me and when I finally squeezed out of them that I was in the wrong police station, they refused to give me any information about where I needed to go. There is such a disconnect in China as well as a lack of concern amongst government officials towards foreigners and Chinese people alike. If it’s not specifically their problem, they could care less what happens to you. It is also difficult to deal with these people considering that they don’t answer their phones half of the time mainly because they are either on break (11-3 in some places that I have been) or playing Majiang with their fellow officers.

But enough of that. I've got some funny translations coming your way.

Before Jane agreed to help me, I texted my landlord about the issue. Here's what she texted back:

不好意思， 我这边没有这张表哦！关于这个可能你得询问下专理该项的相关政府机构

Here's what Google Translator makes of it:

I am sorry, I did not in this form here, Oh! About this you probably have asked specifically under the rationale that the relevant government agencies.

Here is MDBG Dictionary's (significantly more amusig) translation:

Embarrassed, me not this table! About this possibility you must under the inquiry be supposed specially the item of related government apparatus.

Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that these online Chinese-English translators often produce such humurous results because most of these words just don't have perfect one-to-one translations. The meaning is totally context-specific, and even the good folks at Google have yet to produce a translator intelligent enough to fully understand context and shape its results appropriately.

Now here's MY translation:

Sorry, I don't have a copy of this form you want. Regarding your best course of action, you might want to inquire with someone in a position of knowledge or authority in the government.

Matt's all-purpose, low-fat Chinese food recipe

Matt's low-fat, all-purpose Chinese food recipe

1. Prepare some noodles or rice.

The default rice and noodle in China are both plain white. But you can find other rices and noodles if you look in the right places.

2. Mince some garlic

China is the world's number one producer of garlic. Growing up I was always told that it was Gilroy, but I now think that was just a marketing ploy.

3. Grate some fresh ginger

4. Chop up some vegetables.

In my case, I used baby bok choy and mushrooms. Baby bok choy is not the "designer vegetable" I think it is in American supermarkets, but an inexpensive staple. In fact, domestically produced produce in China is very inexpensive. My local supermarket also carries a long line of organic produce, which is about twice as expensive as the non-organic, but still cheaper than in the United States. The grocery store's basic mushroom is brown and more flavorful than the basic white mushrooms in the United States.

5. Combine water, corn starch, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and any other sauces of your choosing.

I almost always use soy sauce and vinegar, but when it comes to additional flavors you can mix it up. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of ready-made sauces to choose from in the supermarket. I usually use some form of chili sauce.

6. Heat some oil in the wok. Add, one by one, the garlic, ginger, vegetables, and sauce, constantly and vigorously stirring.

I stopped using my long-handled spatula because it was flicking food all over the kitchen. Now I use a bamboo spoon, which lets me stir with greater accuracy and force. This is the same basic procedure that is used on woks across China, but it usually involves a lot of oil. I don't use much oil, so I need to be extra vigilant in the stirring to keep it from burning. But it's usually okay because the vegetables give off so much liquid that the stir-fry becomes nice and saucy, which is perfect for serving over rice or noodles.

China Blog March 16: Leaning Chinese

I've been living in Shanghai and attending language classes for two whole weeks now. That means I'm already one-sixth of the way through my twelve-week program. I have a feeling this time will fly really quickly. At this point, I'm almost sure I'll return to China after a month at home or so. Because I feel like I'm on a roll, having made real progress in Mandarin in a short period of time. And I'm really enjoying it. I'm getting a lot of positive reinforcement, and I don't want to let up for too long of a break. If I keep seeing progress at the rate I've felt it in the last couple weeks, then I think a good year or so of study could maybe make me functionally fluent. I have to admit, I'm being a really good language student right now. I dont spend every hour of the day on Mandarin, but I spend a lot more than the four hours I'm in class.

New students may arrive at ACLS (the Academy of Language Studies) on any week, and rather than starting a new class from scratch, they give you a placement test and throw you into an already-in-progress class. It might sound bad, but I think it makes sense. This company has several hundred students at their two campuses in Beijing, but the Shanghai branch, which is much newer, only has about thirteen students right now. Those thirteen are divided into about five different classes at different skill levels. Those classes' progress is measured by where they are in the series of textbooks the school uses. I got put in not the lowest, but second-lowest level, which was on Chapter Eleven of Book One. My classmates are from France and England. Our teacher remarked that, between the four of us, we represent 80% of the UN security council. There is some vocabulary and grammar they've learned that I haven't yet learned, but catching up is not too difficult. Luckily, I've discovered that I have a knack for memorizing characters quickly. I have a drill book for writing them over and over again, and I use flashcards to test myself.

Since arriving in Shanghai, I've learned that Beijing is generally revered as the best place in China to learn Mandarin because that's where Putonghua (the common, or standard, dialect of China) is geographically based. That's where more of the serious language students go, they say, while those more interested in pursuing business opportunities or the social scene come to Shanghai. Hmm. I definitely didn't know that before I came here. But I still think I like the city of Shanghai (language offerings aside) better than Beijing for a variety of reasons (which I'll discuss later).

I've also found that it's not too difficult to just go out in the city and meet actual Chinese people to practice with. And that's exactly what I've been doing! All I have to do is go to a park or public place with some Chinese homework in hand. People will approach me and start a conversation. Needless to say, making friends here is not difficult. Today I finally acquired a bicycle. How did I get it? It was loaned to me by a girl I met yesterday in People's Square. She doesn't use it, so she let me have it for the next ten weeks. The best language partners for me are probably those who who are native Chinese speakers, but who also speak some English. That way the relationship is more reciprocal, and we can both help each other. I can try to speak as much as possible in Chinese, but when I hit a wall, they can help me figure out what I'm trying to say, and write it down for me in my notepad. I have had some conversations with some Chinese speakers who don't speak any English at all. Usually we can fumble along, not always understanding each other 100%, but still understanding enough. But usually after a while we'll run out of things to say. It's great practice though, and functions as great reinforcement to know that Chinese people can actually understand my speech and pronunciation. I'm glad, because I pay a great deal of attention to the intonation. The sounds of the Chinese syllabary are not that difficult, and are far less numerous than the universe of sounds pronounced in the English language. But the tones definitely add several layers of difficulty. I still have a lot of trouble distinguishing the tones when I hear them spoken, but I've gotten better at pronouncing them, and at pronouncing a string of them in succession. Chinese people speak so quickly that much of the intonation seems to even out, but the meaning of the sounds can still be inferred through the context.

In class, my classmates and I are able to carry on conversations in Chinese. Our teacher, Ting Ting, is about the same age as us. Her lesson plans are formulaic and cyclical, with the same activities and drills repeated in each lesson (chapter). But that's not a problem, because I think the activities and drills are well-designed and a productive use of time. We are forced to do a lot of speaking, much of it in dialogues, questions, and sentences using the new vocabulary and grammar we've learned. In one activity, for example, Ting Ting will write all the new characters we've learned in a lesson on the white board, and we are then forced to create a dialogue between us making use of those characters, She crosses them out as they're used, and the dialogue isn't over until every one is crossed out. There's a lot more time for me to get speaking time in class than in the classes at COM because there are only three students. The pace is also much faster. We start a new chapter every 1.5 - 2 days. On the Friday of my second week, we finished Book One and this week we start Book Two.

The staff at the school is very friendly and helpful. As anyone who knows me knows, I do ask lots of questions, and I'm lucky that the teachers at my school are happy to indulge my habit. They've helped me translate emails and text messages I couldn't fully translate myself, and helped me figure out how to say things I want to say to shopowners, bus drivers, etc.

But whenever I translate something, I try to do it on my own before asking for help. This can be a painstaking business if there are lots of characters I don't know. Sometimes I think I recognize a character because it contains several familiar components, but a one stroke difference can completely change the meaning of the character. There's hardly a sentence I encounter anymore in which I don't know at least some of the characters. So the rest is a game of filling in the blanks. I've got several tools at my disposal: my hand-held electronic dictionary, my hard copy dictionary, my textbook, my notepad, and the internet. I'll input the unknown character into my hand-held and hopefully it will appear. This is more difficult if the character I'm trying to read is handwritten or printed in a strange font. Most Chinese handwriting I've encountered is like chicken scratch to my eyes. They're scribbled so quickly and without the pen leaving the page, similar to our cursive handwriting, rendering the unique elements and brushstrokes of the characters unrecognizable to my eyes. Some of the fonts, too, distort the look of the strokes. Chinese characters, just like the letters of the Roman Alphabet, can be written in an infinite number of fonts. A common font used in business signs has the characters in really wide, bubble-like shapes, very compressed together and overlapping. I find those ones quite difficult to read. I've discovered that my MacBook comes even comes equipped with more than one font for Chinese characters. This is my favorite:

华文楷体,

The above characters are the name of the font, and translate as "brilliant character regular script".

Since beginning class I've had to teach myself the names of all the different brush strokes (there are about twenty-five, though many of those are two-or-three stroke combinations of other, more basic, strokes). One nice thing about the above font is that you can see a subtle variation in the thickness of each stroke. This tells you the direction of the stroke, if it were being drawn by a traditional brush (where the brush first touches the paper is the thickest, and gradually tapers off until the brush leaves the paper).

My hand-held dictionary is not complete, and it sometimes fails to recognize the characters I input. This often happens with some of the more obscure characters which are only used as family names. I've met two Chinese people so far who have told me that even other Chinese people have difficulty reading their name, because the character for it is so obscure. One recounted how when she was in school, her teachers often mispronounced her name, but she wasn't supposed to correct them in front of the other students because it would cause her teacher to lose face. She said people often assume that her parents are very educated because how else could they have chosen such a name.

Growing up in America, my understanding of the Chinese language was that every character represented a single word, and that every word could be expressed in one character. This is not true. Many characters do not represent complete words, or rather, they represent forms of words that are not in common usage today, but are used in combination with other characters to form modern meanings. Many words are made up of multiple characters, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes even more. In this way, Chinese is much more versatile than a one-to-one system would allow for. Read together, the four characters

不好意思 mean "embarrassed" or "embarrassment". But broken into their individual components, the meaning is "no good feeling". But the Chinese way of putting characters with their own unique meanings into multiple-character words is often highly logical and practical. Take the following six words, all meaning a type of vehicle, as an example. The basic unit, 车 (chē) means vehicle. The others all add additional characters to 车. The meanings of the added characters on their own may have nothing to do with transportation, but when the idea they represent is combined with the idea of vehicle, they make perfect sense.

1. Vehicle 车 chē

2. Train 火车 huǒchē (huǒ = "fire")

3. Bicycle 自行车 zìxíngchē (zìxíng = "by oneself")

4. Car 汽车 qìchē (qì = "gas")

5. Taxi 出租汽车 chūzūqìchē (chūzū = "to rent out")

6. Bus 公共汽车 gōnggòngqìchē (gōnggòng = "public")

If I'm out and about and need to know Chinese word, I can input the English word in my hand-held dictionary and hope for the best. Often, though, it gives me several Chinese words to choose from, and I have no way of knowing which one works best in context. If I have a computer and internet in front of me, I might google the different Chinese words and see which one has more search results. I figure that's a rough measure of which word is more commonly used, and for now I'm happy using the most common vocabulary and leaving the more obscure stuff for later. My hard copy dictionary also contains more examples of the usage of words in sentences, which can help to add context to the meaning.

Carrying notepads with me wherever I go is essential because I'm always finding things to write down. I like to write down characters I see on signs, menus, and products, and then translate them later. The following example is from a warning sign at a construction site:

不戴安全帽

不准进入工地

First I looked up all the characters I didn't know. Some of them I already knew in their individual usages, but not in their compound usages as determined here.

戴 dài to put on, to wear (glasses, hat, gloves)

安全 ān quán safe, secure, safety

帽 mào hat

准 zhǔn to allow, to permit

进入 jìn rù to enter

工地 gōng dì construction site

The above definitions are from my hand-held dictionary. If you simply pieced together the one-to-one translations of each character, you'd have what people call Chinglish. I think a lot of the bizarre signs visitors find so amusing in China are achieved precisely through this method. Someone ran the Chinese words through a dictionary, using the literal English one-to-one translations, in the same order in which they appear in Chinese. The literal translation of this would be "No wear safety hat, no allow enter construction site". That's pretty understandable. Its not as weird as some of them translations you see in China. But it still is not proper English, because Chinese has no article and often leaves out pronouns. Thus, a passable English translation would be something like:

"Not wearing a safety hat? Then you're not permitted to enter the construction site!"

Here's an easy one:

中国制造 Zhōngguó Zhìzào "Made in China"

I have two notebooks, one pocket size, one that I carry in my backpack, in which I keep essential words that I often want to use in conversations but have not yet memorized. This gives me a quick reference that I can use on the fly. I also make flash cards for all the characters I learn, so that I can drill myself and memorize them.

I've found that words I've just learned in class keep on popping up outside of class. That's really exciting. It makes me think that the vocabulary in our textbook is very well-chosen. That said, there are lots of words that I find I want to use but haven't yet learned, so I figure them out on my own, run them by my teacher, and then add them to my notebooks. The vocabulary I'm learning also seems to be curiously applicable to my life. For example, we learned about health and medicine the week I was having horrible headaches, and I used the new vocabulary I learned to get some Chinese medicine, which ended a ten-day streak of headaches.

China Blog March 10, 2009: Living in Shanghai

Sitting right now in Citta Espresso Cafe again. Just read the NY Times' frontpage story on the Dalai Lama's recent harsh criticisms of China. Totally uncensored. This is good. What the article talked about...that's not so good. I wish China's leaders weren't as paranoid about "social unrest" as they are. More on that later. This is the same cafe where I came for internet when I first arrived in Shanghai 5 weeks ago. Now I should be able to use it in my apartment, but it's having problems, so I'm here for now. I've learned to get by without constant internet access, and its not the end of the world. But I prepare lots of stuff that needs being online to accomplish, so my time here at the cafe is a serious work session. Its definitely a nice place. Same prices as Starbucks but nicer ambiance, and free wifi (Starbucks doesn't offer).
I researched how to ask about the wifi connection myself in Chinese:

有没有无线电因特网联接？免费吗？
Yǒu méiyǒu wúxiàndiàn Yīntèwǎng liánjiē? Miǎnfèide ma?
Do you have a wireless internet connection? Is it free?

The only downside is the staff here seems to be hard-wired to speak to speak to me in English. I ask in Chinese, they respond in English. Not very helpful. That's why I prefer non-expat places, where speaking to clerks, waiters, and staff is good practice. Scanning around the room, the clientele looks about half Chinese, half expat. It dawned on me, if I'm going to be teaching English in China, is this what I am going to be training Chinese students to do...wait on expats in cafes? Oh, but I guess I shouldn't be snooty. I didn't complain when I encountered so many English speaking staff as I backpacked around Europe or India (or China for that matter). Maybe where I start to feel a little tingle of ego is when I see how many permanent residents of Shanghai either cannot, or refuse to, speak Chinese or engage with Chinese people in Chinese. Tourists its a little more excusable. But if you're living here and you can barely speak a word of Chinese, well...words like "sad", "presumptuous", and "lazy" come to mind. But there are lots of them here.

But even in a place that caters to expats, there are good things to report. The Chinese gentleman behind me just helped me solve a problem that's been perplexing me for months. My computer is set up so that I can input pinyin (the roman alphabet) and choose from a pop-up window the correct Chinese characters. But for some reason, I'd never been able to find certain words, like the word for woman, or travel. Those words in pinyin are spelled with an umlauted "ǔ". Turns out that you can't just type "nuren" or "luxing". Instead, you type the umlauted "ǔ" as a "v", and all your problems are solved!

It's been several days since I've had a chance to write here, and that's because I've been so busy now that I'm a full-time student again. There never seem to be enough hours in the day. I'm keeping myself very busy, rising at 6 every morning to make it to my school by 8.

I had one weekend to move into my apartment before starting classes, and because that wasn't enough to acquire all the stuff I needed, I spent the first several afternoons running errands, collecting things for the apartment. That times adds up, especially with transportation added in. I love Shanghai's public transportation system (I have a rechargeable card that I swipe on the subway, buses, and even taxis, which are necessary after 11 when the subway shuts down), but it still takes a while to get around. Shanghai is the largest city in China, after all.

It's funny. When I was traveling last month I wondered if I'd have enough to say to fill this blog once I stopped traveling and started living in the same place. Well, it turns out I have much more to say now that I'm geographically grounded. That shouldn't be surprising. When traveling, my impressions were based on fleeting glimpses. I have a long way to go before I can claim to dissect Shanghai's urban milieu with any authority (in fact, it won't ever happen), but once you start walking down the same street more than once, you do start to notice things you didn't notice at first.

Because I have so much to say, I'm going to organize it by category. Index is below. It will probably take me several days to get this all published. But rest assured, lots more is forthcoming (and in fact already filtering through drafts). I'll issue a warning right now that the first chapter on "domestic life" may be a bit boring to non-immediate friends and family, so keep that in mind, and you won't hurt my feelings if you skip it :)

• First Topic: Domestic life in and around the apartment.
• Second Topic: Learning Mandarin, and my language school
• Third Topic: Insights and philosophical musings

First Topic: Domestic life in and around the apartment.

The wifi in my apartment worked fine at first, but trouble I got in touch with my landlord (by SMS, and entirely in Chinese, for she speaks no English) and she had two guys show up at my place within the hour, install a new router or something, and then the internet worked (but on ethernet, not wireless). Now it only works infrequently, and poorly at that. It's not really the end of the world. My school has computer consoles, and a number of wifi hotspots are available in my neighborhood for the price of a coffee (or bummed for free if I don't mind sitting outside a cafe, laptop on my lap, with people starring at me). I do plan to address the problem in the apartment, but I need a bit more time to troubleshoot and try to translate a detailed account of what's wrong. I've found that patience is key to communicating what I want to say in Chinese. More on that in Topic 2.

I spent the first several days adding needed things to my apartment. I'm still looking for a couple items, namely a bike. But my apartment is starting to fell like home. And I've fallen into a routine. I wake up every weekday morning at 6:10 am, leaving the apartment by 7:10 in order to catch the 7:20 bus, which gets me to my school at 7:50, in time for the start of class at 8:00. It's the earliest I've consistently had to get up ever in my life. I like Chinese food, but have never been satisfied with Chinese breakfasts. While on the road, it can be difficult to eat a Western breakfast, but now that I have an apartment it is easy. I keep my pantry and refrigerator stocked with fresh fruit, hot cereal, cold cereal, milk, eggs, fresh-baked artisan breads, and jam. Yes folks, it's all available right here in Shanghai, and right across my street at the Carrefour.

I'm in class from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm each day, giving me an entire afternoon to spend up to my own inclination every day. I'll use it to do errands, or return to my apartment and study. Weather has been cold, wet, and dreary most of the last week, but two days the sun came out and now public parks and squares can be nice places to pass the time, or do homework. The streets around my apartment are always full of people, but this past Sunday there were more people than I had ever seen. I'm sure that was a combination of the fact that it was Sunday, when the weekly street markets open, and that it was the first beautiful day in a month. Getting around took a considerable amount of patience, but I found that simply going with the flow and joining the crowd was the best bet.

I do laundry frequently because I often come home with cigarette smell on my clothes because smoking is permitted in most dining and drinking establishments. Luckily, I've got a washing machine in my room, and its small so I can do frequent loads. There is a rack all the way across my ceiling from which I can hang my laundry indoors. There are also laundry poles outside my room, accessed by a hook on the end of a long pole, but I have yet to use them because I've been keeping my windows sealed shut due to the cold weather. In fact, my windows leaked so bad that I sealed them all up with duct tape, and I don't want to remove it until the weather warms up for good. The heater in my room is not the most efficient, and I'm weary of running up too steep a utility bill, so I wear a lot of layers around the house. The base temperature is 13° C, or 54° F. Today's sunshine boosted that base temperature to 18° C, or 64° F. My many windows, which nearly stretch from wall to wall, mean my apartment is more vulnerable to cold air seeping in from outside, but it also creates a nice greenhouse effect when its sunny out.

Other problems have emerged with the apartment. My shower has been filling up with water and overflowing onto the bathroom floor because its not draining fast enough. There's an electric pump which is supposed to take care of that problem, but it doesn't work fast enough. Not really sure why I should need a drain pump on the Sixth Floor...I thought that's what gravity's for. In any case, my mother would be proud of me. Yesterday I got down on my hands and knees, cleaned out the drain, and did some scrubbing while I was at it. It made a difference. I also noticed some workers today cleaning out the sewers of the apartment complex down at street level. Maybe that will also help alleviate the problem.

My kitchen is simple, but I've been making the most of it. Provided are a sink, microwave, hood, and a single inversion cooktop. I acquired a dish drainer, plates, bowls, glasses, knife, grater, cutting board, peeler, spatula, wooden (bamboo) spoon, saucepan, strainer, and wok. It's enough to cook up most things. I can't do any baking, but that's fine because there are bakeries all over the city. In my first week, I've made from scratch: chow mein, stir-fried ginger bok choy over rice, stir-fried garlic spinach over rice, and fried rice.

I'd never heard of an inversion cooker before. It functions as a stove but its physical properties are very different from those of a conventional cooktop (electric or gas). The cooking surface itself never heats up. Instead, it uses electromagnetism to heat the pan resting on its surface (meaning that pots made of magnetic material is essential). The result is more energy-efficient, not to mention faster.

I don't drink the tap water. Instead, I refill my 5-litre jug at a vending machine at the entrance to my apartment complex. It costs 1 RMB (15 cents) for 5 litres. Lugging it back up the sixth floors isn't too bad. I had to lug a lot more during my shopping spree last week.
My teacher says living on the sixth floor is considered good luck. I just think it's good exercise!

Other things that can be refilled? I have a rechargeable metro card that works like a debit card on every form of transportation in Shanghai: subways, buses, and even taxis! My mobile phone uses a SIM card that I can recharge by calling a number and entering a code on the purchased recharge card (recharge cards are literally available everywhere - if not in shops, then from myriad street peddlers).

There must be at least a few thousand residents in my apartment complex (which itself consists of more than ten seven-floor buildings). So far I have yet to see a non-Chinese person in the complex. That doesn't mean there aren't any. I just haven't seen them yet. During the last couple days' of good weather, the old ladies of the complex have started spending more time outdoors, sunning themselves in folding chairs on the driveway. These dense apartment buildings probably predate the era of rapid car ownership in Shanghai, but the pavement is definitely beginning to fill up with cars. Sometimes they squeeze themselves into some difficult maneuvering space. The fact that there are so many cars in this complex signals that this must be a middle class place by Shanghai standards. Even though the apartments are not as nice as some of the taller and more modern high-rises around, if other people are paying rent anywhere similar to mine, then they must have pretty decent incomes.

In fact, I think I'm pretty lucky to be living where I am. It's the first time in my life that I've really lived alone. In college I had a single three out of four years, but it was a single in a dormitory where I had few responsibilities. In grad school I had the responsibilities of a renter, but I also shared them with roommates. Now I'm by myself in an apartment in the big city. And I like it! It definitely makes me feel a bit more adult. And now that I'm 26, I should probably start getting accustomed to feeling like an adult. I've met two of my floor-mates. Both are young (20- or 30-something) Chinese. One speaks English fluently. I see a lot of other young people heading to work at the same time as I head to school in the morning. I'm guessing the higher floors have more young people because they're in better physical condition.

to be continued...

My neighborhood

Satellite image by Google Maps ©
I added some labels to this image (click to enlarge) to show how conveniently located my apartment is.
The neighborhood is called Zhongshan Park, named after the lovely public park you see on the map. The area is full of high-end residential high-rises and shopping centers, and three major subways all converge at the subway station, giving the area excellent access to the rest of Shanghai. Given all this, I think I was quite lucky to get the apartment I did.

My apartment building is probably one of the oldest and least luxurious that you see here on this satellite image. Whereas most buildings around here are just a few years old, my building probaby dates to the 80s, and it is showing significant signs of wear. Yet it is tucked directly behind the Cloud Nine Shopping Center, giving it an excellent location. To reach my building, I enter the apartment complex directly behind the shopping center, and then walk to the farthest of the ten towers. My apartment is on the sixth and topmost floor. To reach the subway station, I can walk through the shopping center if it's cold or raining out.

Within a five minute walk from my apartment one can find:
Carrefour Supermarket
Starbucks
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
Coldstone Creamery
Häagen Dazs
Papa Johns

Not that I really patronize or need any of these establishments. They're all more expensive than their American counterparts. There are hundreds of other shops and restaurants, too, many of them Chinese chains. They're usually cheaper than the foreign ones, but not always. China's indigenous coffee shop chains are just as expensive as Starbucks.

Washing Machine Chinese

Moved into my new apartment in Shanghai yesterday. Just translated all the Chinese words on my washing machine so that I wouldn't be pressing buttons at random. Ready for your lesson in Washing Machine Chinese? Here goes:

电源 diàn yuān power
开关 kāi guān on/off
启动 qǐ dòng start
暂停 zàn tíng suspend
程序 chéng xù procedure
标准 biāo zhǔn standard
快洗 kuǎi xǐ quick wash
加长 jiā cháng add length
功能 gōng néng function
浸泡 jīn pào soak
洗涤 xǐ dí wash
漂洗 piāo xǐ rinse
脱水 tuō shǔi spin (lit: cast off water)
预约 yùyuē timer
补税 bǔ shǔi water level

Spent about $100 on stuff for the apartment at the Carrefour Supermarket across the street. Bedding, bathroom stuff, kitchen stuff, etc. Still have an entire refrigerator and pantry to fill. That will add more to the bill. Initial impressions are that some things are incredibly cheap, while others are surprisingly expensive. I think hangers are actually more expensive here than in the United States. Not fancy hangers, just cheap plastic ones. Here are some household things broken down into two categories based on my subjective opinion of whether they seem underpriced or overpriced (note that my sample is entirely based on Carrefor's Zhongshan Park Supermarket):

Cheap
Pots and pans
Dishes
Chopsticks
Kitchen utensils
Slippers

Expensive
Bedding
Hangers
Clothes-drying racks
Western silverware
Toilet brush
Towels
Tupperware (non-brand included)