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Monthly Archives: March 2005
Best Afternoon in Shanghai
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The best experience in Shanghai I can imagine looks like this:
A sunny warm afternoon (from March to April).
Walking along any of the following roads:
Fu Xing 复兴 Road (near Huai Hai Road area), or Xing Guo 兴国 Road, Wu Yuan 五原 Road, or Fen Yang 汾阳 Road.
Watch the high Platanaceae along the street,
and observe those old standalone villas.
I marked the area with nice old villas and old platanaceae on my map.
If possible, find a tea house and enjoy the sunlight.
Drama: Chang Hen Ge
I had one hour of such beautiful life this afternoon and then we went to the theatre for Wang An Yi’s drama Chang Hen Ge (a.k.a Song Of Endless Sorrow). The life of the old Shanghai appeared before me vividly and I can relation the beautiful but sad story that happened in 1940s with the old time-flushed villas that still stand in the city.
I intended to see another drama Love is Everywhere 《爱，无处不在》, but all tickets were sold out. The actor Zhang Zhang is a great guy. I enjoyed talk with him last week. When we was almost finished, he checked his watch and said: “It seems I have to be hurry. I don’t want to miss the drama tonight.” Later, I found out he is one of the actors in the drama. So I wanted to catch the last show of this drama but failed.
What does Happiness Depend on
Thanks for everyone who posted comments to my entry Helping by Hiring. There are 38 very high quality comments in the discussion about the social welfare system in China. I am very happy that my article draws some attention to Ayi who badly needs help. I will continue to monitor and see if there is opportunity I can help. I am working on a website to help people to hire an Ayi so to create more opportunities for them.
At the same time, I am thinking about the question: “Are we happier than them?” We refers to the circle I am in – my colleagues and my friends who have university degrees and earn well. Them means people who have very low income, like Ayi.
The answer is obvious. But sometimes, it may not be the only answer. My question can be paraphrased as “Will money and education bring happiness after the basic living is covered?”
Shanghai is the Second Unhappiest City in China
As the report figured out, people in Shanghai generally are not happy. It is very true.
Over-Time
Over-time working is common in IT and Media (advertisement) industry, and not rare in other industry as well. Get up early, go to work, go back home after 11:00 PM or even 1:00 AM, sleep, and go to work… The most interesting part is that, when we gather, people like to show off of how late they work. It is a symbol of exciting life and a sense of achievement.
To survive in Shanghai is not easy. Wait a minute. A sentence painted on the wall of the transition hub of the World Trade Center site in New York just jump out of my head: Man who can survive in New York can survive anywhere in the world. Didn’t we sense more pride instead of sadness in this sentence? It is the same in Shanghai.
Compeition and Education
Students on campus are preparing for TOFEL, GRE, TOIEC.
My friends in a team are working hard to pass MCSE, MCSD and all kinds of certificates.
People who already worked for some years study to pass PMP, ITLE. People get one certificate after the other and still keep asking: “Is there any other hot certificate I can pass?”
For senior managers, they have started their MBA or EMBA courses. It is hot in Shanghai. The 290,000 RMB annual tuition for Fudan EMBA does not stop people joining the program.
No one in this city can escape from the competition. Taxi drivers, for example, are learning English on the day off – remember that they have worked 24 hours continuously and still need to spend several hour to learn English on the 24 hours of break.
Well. Certificate is something you can “shine in the eyes of strangers” (as Wordsworth put it). Strangers certainly include future employers.
Sports? Friends?
I feel very happy and relaxed after Wendy and I just get back from badminton court. We drove 15 minutes to Lujiazui for it. It reminded me that when we lived in Puxi, the badminton court, the swimming pool and all kinds of sport facility were just on the other side of the road – I can even see people playing tennis from my window, we didn’t went there during our two years for sports – I was in the circle to work harder and get more certificate at that time.
In large city like Shanghai, friends are far away. I miss the time in smaller city – my friends live next building with me. There are many friends in the same area. Even the whole city is not far. Now, when I want to visit a friend, he is on the other side of the city and it costs at least 1 hour’s drive. I am not happy about it.
A Family of Life-destroying Emotions in City
Alain de Botton commented about the city life in his the Art of Travel:
It is admirably to the point. We change mobile everyday, we buy many goods that poor people cannot buy, but it has nothing to do with our happiness. As de Botton or Wordsworth put it, our happiness did not depend on those fancy stuff.
Everyone is seeking for something he/she doesn’t actually need to be happy. To rank higher in the hierarchy may not bring more happiness than a shine afternoon tea with friends.
Jia You, Shanghai Metro!
If someone claims that the Shanghai Metro Line #1 is approaching its limit, he/she is not telling 100% of the truth, but not far from it.
Seeing is Believing
See the pictures I took these two days at the peak time of Shanghai Metro. For visitors to Shanghai, no matter visitors from outside Shanghai or outside China, I suggest them to try transition from Metro Line #2 to Line #1 between 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM on weekdays. Sorry that I may encouraging people to add burden to the Metro at its peak time. :-) It does help to understand how the city works.
Heard of the huge population of Shanghai, you will see the most amazing gather of people – everyone is going or running in the river of people.
Head of the economic power of this magic city? Look at the faces, the dresses, the paces of the people during this specific time frame. You will NOT see so many these business man, engineers, or office ladies on streets after they enter their office building.
Although we cannot claim you see how Shanghai works just by the 30-minute ride, at least people can get the vivid feeling of heart beat of the city. To be honest, I very seldom transit from Line #2 to Line #1 at morning rush time. I heard about the story and know what I should expect, but I was still shocked. Only after I set my foot to the transition tunnel can I understand the meaning of what we call “a lot of people”. The more interesting part of it is, with so many people, we still move so fast – exactly the same pace as the elevator.
The Transition
© Jian Shuo Wang. People transit from Line #1 to #2
Waiting
© Jian Shuo Wang. People waiting for Line #1
The Train is Coming
© Jian Shuo Wang. The Train is coming
Leave the Training? Not Easy?
© Jian Shuo Wang. People inside are not easy to get out
Closing the Door? Hardly
© Jian Shuo Wang. People trying to get the door closed
Next Train? Yes. That is the Only Choice
Immediately after the first train leaves, there are still a lot of people on the platform. The good news for them is, they have a larger chance to get on to the next train.
© Jian Shuo Wang. Immediately after train leaves
Solution?
I believe the interval of Shanghai Metro #1 is short enough (two and a half minute I remember). Adding more metro lines is the solution. On one hand, it offload a lot of traffic; on the other hand, maybe it will enable more people to transit at People’s Square and add the burden of Metro Line #1. So Jia You (cheers), Shanghai Metro. I am expecting the Metro Line #7 complete sooner – there is a station near my current apartment. It is expected to be completed by World Expo 2010.
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This Post is Sent at Internet Cafe
I visited the Hui Yuan Internet Cafe at the opposite side of Shanghai Jiao Tong University on Hua Shan Road to post this article. It is the first time in the recent two years to visit an Internet cafe. I am waiting for my friends Mao and Hengge to have tea soon, so I still have some time to kill in the middle. I paid 3 RMB for one hour’s time.
The Internet connection is good, and the computer is not bad, except someone is smoking beside me while he is playing Tian Tang II. Someone is cleaning his dirty mouse rolling balls with his hand, and others are ordering their fast food dinner from the waiter. I guess there are about 500 computers in this Internet cafe and more than 80 of them are occupied. It is the best place to learn the Internet industry and culture. Majority of them are playing game (either Shanda’s or CS), some (1 out of 10) are watching movie (stored locally) with earphones. Some are chatting with QQ or other IM – I didn’t see MSN Messenger user in this Internet cafe so far. There are five persons out of the 70 seats in my room surfing on the Internet – one is on Sina, the other on Sohu, the third on Hotmail, I don’t know which site the fourth guy is visiting (seems like a portal). The fifth, which is me is editing this blog entry.
Helping by Hiring
Note: This is the response to people’s comment on my last article: Life in a Low Cost Labor World to clarify the reason I wrote it.
Well. It seems I need to clarify the reason I posted the article so Jimmy and Kevin won’t have the impression that I am making fun of the Ayi or something.
There are very serious problems in the way we treat people without a city Hukou here. As everyone here mentioned, they don’t have medical insurance; they don’t have much protection by the society; not many people care about their lives; and they are leading the miserable life. That is the dark side under the sunlight of the city.
However, if donation can solve the problem, we all donate. But it does not, Kevin. Let me tell you why.
If you go out and see the long line outside any Ayi service broker these days, and look at the faces of them, you’ll know personal donation cannot help them all. Even if there is enough donation, you can help them today but not tomorrow, not to mention their lives in the long run.
I talked with an Ayi with surname Zhang when I went to hospital the other day. She wait at the gate of a service broker at Hua Shan Road (near Huai Hai Road). She has been there waiting for someone to hire her since the 4th day of the Spring Festival. More than two weeks past and she still didn’t get a job. She worried a lot about her future. She may not survive in the city. She has child with her and they were feeling hungry. She refused to go back to the village she came from because she don’t have much money to pay the train ticket.
Well. At that time, I thought of some ways to help. To give money to her is one choice, but not the best choice. If I did help by giving money, well, look at the other 30 people in line – how can you help. Even you can help them all that day, but how about their lives tomorrow, and the next year?
So I thought of promoting the service of Ayi. I have made up the mind that if I have any chance to tell people, I will convince people to hire some one who badly needs help so they can make a living. The world is harsh for them, and what we can do it to help them to survive in Shanghai. I know there are some readers of my blog, and I want to say: If you have anything you do traditionally, like my scanning job, instead of paying more for equipments, give the business to those poor people so they can find the job. Post Spring Festival is a hard period of time for most of them because most of them are returning to the city and to find job is not easy.
OK. There may be better solution to this, like remove the Hukou system, or increase the basic salary of Ayi. But I don’t like to just talk about something without action. You may find it out in my previous blog entries. I know what we are proposing is more complicated than what I think. What I CAN do is, give more business to either Ayi or Kuai Di or those who need help. Remember, they are not beggar. They don’t want your easy money. They just want a chance to work so they can raise their child. The solution I am proposing is, visit a Ayi Service broker, call them – I have some phone numbers – and hire an Ayi. Giving them more business and mean time, you also save time and money – that is a win-win situation. It helps them today, and help them to build a future.
I talked about the great contribution of Ayi, Expressman and other people who come to Shanghai to help build the city in this article: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20050130_picture_news_of_shanghai_2005.htm when they leave the city to go back home. You don’t need to worry that I have the feeling to be the RICH and look down upon them. I am more concerned with the status of this unique group of people that the lives of so-called white collar (which I am part of). That is the reason I talk with them, and I write about them. The first step to help is get people’s attention to them, I believe.
I am sorry I have to say I feel bad when people think I am happy about hire some one for a very cheap price. I enjoy the fact that I can create a job opportunity for someone better. If we go to gym, the 100 RMB per entrance is not so critical for the business owner of the Gym. But if you call an Ayi and say, help me on this and I pay 7 RMB for you. That 7 RMB means a lot. Is there anyone here proposing me to call an Ayi everyday and say, “Come here and I give you 7 RMB for free”, I believe it is insulting them and I refuse to do it. You may feel comfortable to do it, I don’t.
When I helped those five cats in my garden, and people criticized me “Hey! Why help those cats! I’d rather help more human being”. When I am working on the personal funding proposal to personally donate money to the fund every month from my salary, someone argued: “Why help those people who are rich enough to go to college? Many people in China villages are starving now.” Well. It seems whatever I do, someone will guide me to do some more meaningful things. So I learnt that no matter how small the good deed is, just do it. One personal cannot make an impact to the world, but at least can help one or two other people. Help people one by one.
Of cause the reason I didn’t put the reason behind this in the article directly is, we cannot ask people to do something only to HELP others. It is not the way the world works. We need to explain it in a way that people find it beneficial for themselves. So I used the relaxing tone and samples to tell people – Hire an Ayi, hire an express man – it costs little but help YOU a lot. Does it make sense?