"Don't you know old people can have a social life?"

The second instalment of the Shanghai Portraits Project was submitted by Michael Beets, a South African farm-boy who now bases himself in Shanghai.

Meet Michael:

Picture courtesy of CreativeHunt.

I love, love, love this film. Set in a Shanghai apartment, the dialogue takes place between a man and a woman over an evening meal. I counted 7 dishes on the table (!) and thought that maybe I had underestimated the appetite of the elderly, but I learned later on that it's meant to be Chinese New Year. In the film, the woman's daughter is married to the man's son, but in real life this lovely couple are married to each other - I think it shows! The script is great - very realistic and sharply funny. I fell in love with both of them watching this.

Miss G

The Whole Kaboodle: Modern, Chinese and Ethical

Heyan’er is a ‘modern Chinese’ ethical fashion label whose Shanghai branch can be found in a gorgeous house on Anfu Lu. The lead designer and label founder, He Yan, collects Miao and Yi costumes and it’s clear that these pieces are a source of inspiration for her designs. The pieces are manufactured in the Heyan'er workshop from cotton, linen or silk and are only available in their Shanghai and Beijing stores. Although the pieces have more than a whiff of costume about them, they’re lovely to touch and so beautifully crafted that it’s hard to walk out empty-handed. A rifle through the racks reveals pieces for as little as 680RMB and although they're primarily pants, tops and jackets, I spotted a beautiful hobo bag on one of the racks and a rainbow of scarfs along another. My favourite piece was the ethereal kimono hanging in the rear window, but there’s such a range of colours you’re bound to find something that catches your eye.

Heyan’er is at 284 Anfu Lu, Xuhui district.

One of the Yi Costumes in He Yan's collection.

And another.

And .... another

The lovely view from the rear of the store.

Bada ... Ling

Ada & Ling is a cute little boutique on Anfu Lu that has some great minimalist pieces alongside plenty of bling. There are no real bargains to be found, but you’ll definitely be able to pick something up that nobody back home has. Aside from clothes, there are shoes, hats, bags, belts and jewellery for you to paw your way through. My favourite was a sleeveless cape with an exposed hem (hmmm, sewing lingo anybody? like the edge of a wifebeater ...). Very little red riding hood ... except it was grey.

Ada & Ling is at 149 Anfu Lu. Conveniently located across the road from Fei Dan, and a little further down from Baker & Spice (for all your western food needs).

The best laid plans

After a week of a little too much of this (Classes! Exams! Group Projects!) and not enough of that (blogging about Shanghai) I woke up yesterday morning determined to make amends. I had done my research and google-mapped my destinations. My bike tyres were pumped (ok, that just happened when I bought the bike) and I was ready to go. Down along Jianguo, left onto Ruijin Er and then all the way up to Jing An. I had 3 boutiques to check out and I wasn’t going to let anything stand in my way. And then I saw one of these:

And then another one. And another one. At one point, there were so many of these signs I was starting to wonder if maybe you weren’t allowed to cycle anywhere in Shanghai. I cycled further East in the hope of escaping this overly officious section of the French Concession, and found a few more. WTF China?! I ended up pushing my bike over to the first boutique, only to find an open sign and a locked door. Hmmm, confusing. I peered inside and saw this:

so I assumed that the latter message was the correct one.
Onwards and upwards.
I decided to head further North and get my ‘star’ boutique out of the way, when I encountered another one of those blasted signs.
Having wised up by now, I took to the sidewalk and made some progress that way, only to find myself (a mere 100m later) hemmed in by a fence. I ended up CARRYING my bike over Yan-An Road’s pedestrian overpass, and then pushing it for the remainder of the journey. And for those of you who are wondering why I didn’t just turn a blind eye to all those red slashes: I did for a bit, but the buses and taxis started to become a little too aggressive and that’s when I noticed that there were no Chinese people cycling where I was. Chinese cyclists seem to flout road rules with gay abandon (cycling the wrong way, exiting laneways at great speed with nary a glance at oncoming traffic, cycling on sidewalks ... I could go on for hours) so I thought that if they were heeding these officious signs, then it might be best to follow suit.
The next boutique looked great (vintage! in China!) but it was also closed. Helpfully, the sign on the door told me I was an hour too early (but right on time according to information I found on the web). I confess I pretty much gave up after that. In an effort to get to the last boutique, I headed South but I just found myself being propelled along with the flow of traffic until I was spat out on Changle Lu, well West of my final destination (but rather close to Anfu Lu). So today, a day when I had high hopes of fashionista sleuthing, I just ended up going in here:

and consoling myself with one of these:

before heading home.

To the Chinese road authority: lose all the anti-bike signs! We don’t contribute to traffic jams or the ever increasing Shanghai ‘mist’ that burns my lungs when I cycle for more than 10 minutes. And to anybody reading this blog: sit tight. I’m heading back to the same boutiques on the weekend. A pied!

Miss G

I Spy Shanghai

Do you ever wonder how other people see Shanghai? Sometimes I feel like the language barrier cling-films me from what the Shanghaiese are really like. I saw a man and a woman screaming at each other last night on the street: she had dropped her bike and was clutching her mobile phone, completely distressed. They were both yelling at each other so loudly that I heard them before I saw them. What were they arguing about? Did they even know each other? When you don't speak the language, all you get are impressions, fleeting glimpses into other people's lives that are (mis)interpreted through your own cultural kaleidoscope.

So I was excited to read about the Shanghai Portraits Project this morning - it's a series of short films about Shanghai, by international directors living in Shanghai. Rules of the game are that it must come within 4 minutes and under 3000RMB. The first short film is by Gianpaolo Lupori, who definitely has that intense artist thing going on:

Gianpaolo's film takes a look at Shanghai from a taxi-driver's perspective. The driver plays to the stereotype of Mr Philosophical in the film, so I thought it was pretty funny to read this about him:

"We did a first interview and I was very, very unhappy with it. When we first met the guy he told us some crazy stories - women offering themselves to him in exchange for payment because they had no money, people making out in the back of his car and asking him to wait outside, all sorts of crazy stuff, and I thought this is going to be fun. But then when we started interviewing him he became like cardboard, very materialistic and optimistic. When we asked him about why he felt people came to Shanghai, he replied for the Expo ... we don't want to talk about the Expo!"

I really liked the soundtrack. And the subtitles! Check it out here.

Miss G

A Guide to Staying Sane

I had no idea that Shanghai had a 'corniche' until I stumbled upon it one evening when I was desperately trying to find somewhere to run in Shanghai.