A Taste of Asia: A Slice of Shanghai (Part 1)
May 19th 2008 04:02
Category: No Category
In late 2002 I was feeling a bit anxious as I had left university to write my postmodern choose-your-own-adventure, and there was no one to help or encourage me. My parents were adamant that I return to university as soon as possible, but there was nothing there to interest me... I felt miles ahead of my friends, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually... even my best friend would never swim against the tide so thoroughly - she considered studying psychology to be rebellious, instead of doing commerce as most of her Asian friends and acquaintances were doing. Her passion for painting and art was relegated to something she did as a hobby, in her spare time. It was while talking to her one evening in my room, longing for relief from my current surroundings, that she told me she was heading back to Shanghai for a holiday. She had immigrated to Australia from China when she was about twelve, and was much more warmly disposed to her country of origin than I was to mine. On impulse, I asked if I could come with her... she made Shanghai sound inviting, safe and cosy, and I was filled with the irrepressible desire to find myself amongst it.
I arranged to stay with her at her aunt's apartment for a small price payable to her aunt, and it was decided: we would travel together. Debra knew somebody in the Chinese embassy in the city, so we got our visas quite quickly, and we booked our China Eastern flights together. I had no idea what to expect, but I was very excited. Shanghai had never been much on my radar. I knew it existed, but had never seen a photo of it, didn't know much about its culture, its natural environment, its popular philosophies... all I knew was that Debra would make me feel welcome.
My first impression was of a modern airport, with long white rods hanging from the ceiling, as if spikes affixed the wall. It was a bit eerie, but added a modernist artistic touch to the place which I could appreciate.
We had travelled all day and it was night when we arrived. Members of Debra's family were waiting for us, took us to their car, and we were off as soon as we hopped in... it takes at least half an hour to reach the city from the airport, and for the first third of that time all I could see was the large road we were on, and various brightly coloured advertisements. I was excited by these texts, with their solid, formalistic use of colour and design, female models that corresponded to what was seen as traditionally beautiful in China and the large Chinese characters - they were so different to the world I knew!
As we drove along buildings started to line the roads, each one more interesting than the other. These weren't just your common collection of buildings. They were elaborate, eclectic constructions with an abundance of sexy curved surfaces lit up lucratively from below, reaching high into the sky even though they weren't skyscrapers. I had never felt so stimulated by architecture before in my life. I think Debra's family got a bit tired of my constant exclamations from the back of the car, so I decided to keep my sense of ecstatic excitement to myself after the tenth really interesting complex.
The women decided to welcome us with a stroll upon the Bund, a famous walkway by the river that separates Shanghai in two, and this is where any lingering expectations of a disorganised city where unkempt growth encroached untidily upon sidewalks and public spaces was finally put to rest. To get to it we drove through a complicated road network, in a loop on a major road which was lit up with yellow-orange lights from beneath and looked like a ride in an amusement park, with tall buildings and their lights glittering everywhere.
Once we got to the Bund, on one side were colonial buildings with unusual attachments such as an emerald pyramid of a roof, or a lotus flower roof saluting the sky. On the other side was the most futuristic, postmodern cityscape I had ever seen, consisting of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which looked like a rocket ready to blast off into space, and no two buildings around it looked the same. Combined with the smooth steps, relaxed expressions and friendly air of everyone around me and I was totally turned on, in every way imaginable.
The view turned out to be just as colourful during the day:
It wasn't until I marvelled at Shanghai's splendid contributions to world architecture design that I realised how uncreative the architecture in Sydney and most modern Western cities were... just one rectangular prism after another, with little variation. It was all the more interesting that this masterpiece of the imagination, an orgy of eclecticism and plurality of styles was in one of the last remaining Communist contries on earth... surely the multiplicity of ideologies suggested in this melting pot of surfaces, materials and textures was not kosher with the Chinese government? How could the design be so nonconformist and the national mindset so brainwashed?
We finally got to Debra's aunt's apartment after an extended stroll on the Bund in our winter coats, and I was surprised to find that the buildings seemed smaller than they did in Australia, Europe or America. There were just as many floors, but the floors itself were shorter, the doors were less lengthy and the proportions of the room were all slightly smaller. The building looked like it had aged a bit, but seemed sturdy enough. On the front door of the apartment was a Chinese character in gold and red, hung upside down - Debra later told me that it represented 'luck' (or was it 'fortune'?), and that it was seen as lucky to hang it upside down. I had brought a box of chocolates for her aunt, which she was grateful for, even though she didn't eat chocolate!
I had a room all to myself while Debra and her aunt shared a large fold-out bed in the living room. They seemed to enjoy being in close proximity to each other like that, so everyone seemed happy. My room was painted a jade colour and featured a large dark wooden wardrobe, which contained a jacket belonging to Debra's father that the family let me wear.
Here's a pic of me in the jacket, posing "Chinese-style" with a tree:
I arranged to stay with her at her aunt's apartment for a small price payable to her aunt, and it was decided: we would travel together. Debra knew somebody in the Chinese embassy in the city, so we got our visas quite quickly, and we booked our China Eastern flights together. I had no idea what to expect, but I was very excited. Shanghai had never been much on my radar. I knew it existed, but had never seen a photo of it, didn't know much about its culture, its natural environment, its popular philosophies... all I knew was that Debra would make me feel welcome.
My first impression was of a modern airport, with long white rods hanging from the ceiling, as if spikes affixed the wall. It was a bit eerie, but added a modernist artistic touch to the place which I could appreciate.
We had travelled all day and it was night when we arrived. Members of Debra's family were waiting for us, took us to their car, and we were off as soon as we hopped in... it takes at least half an hour to reach the city from the airport, and for the first third of that time all I could see was the large road we were on, and various brightly coloured advertisements. I was excited by these texts, with their solid, formalistic use of colour and design, female models that corresponded to what was seen as traditionally beautiful in China and the large Chinese characters - they were so different to the world I knew!
Imagine seeing something like this on a billboard, lit up at night, with an elaborately made up Chinese lady selling something
As we drove along buildings started to line the roads, each one more interesting than the other. These weren't just your common collection of buildings. They were elaborate, eclectic constructions with an abundance of sexy curved surfaces lit up lucratively from below, reaching high into the sky even though they weren't skyscrapers. I had never felt so stimulated by architecture before in my life. I think Debra's family got a bit tired of my constant exclamations from the back of the car, so I decided to keep my sense of ecstatic excitement to myself after the tenth really interesting complex.
This is the closest I can come to representing the mixture of shapes and surfaces that I saw, even if there is no colour in this pic
Take a close look at all the detail, and imagine these buildings gleaming at you in the night
The women decided to welcome us with a stroll upon the Bund, a famous walkway by the river that separates Shanghai in two, and this is where any lingering expectations of a disorganised city where unkempt growth encroached untidily upon sidewalks and public spaces was finally put to rest. To get to it we drove through a complicated road network, in a loop on a major road which was lit up with yellow-orange lights from beneath and looked like a ride in an amusement park, with tall buildings and their lights glittering everywhere.
Once we got to the Bund, on one side were colonial buildings with unusual attachments such as an emerald pyramid of a roof, or a lotus flower roof saluting the sky. On the other side was the most futuristic, postmodern cityscape I had ever seen, consisting of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which looked like a rocket ready to blast off into space, and no two buildings around it looked the same. Combined with the smooth steps, relaxed expressions and friendly air of everyone around me and I was totally turned on, in every way imaginable.
The view turned out to be just as colourful during the day:
It was like being in a postmodernist's Disneyland... now who needs pornography when you have a cityscape like this?
It wasn't until I marvelled at Shanghai's splendid contributions to world architecture design that I realised how uncreative the architecture in Sydney and most modern Western cities were... just one rectangular prism after another, with little variation. It was all the more interesting that this masterpiece of the imagination, an orgy of eclecticism and plurality of styles was in one of the last remaining Communist contries on earth... surely the multiplicity of ideologies suggested in this melting pot of surfaces, materials and textures was not kosher with the Chinese government? How could the design be so nonconformist and the national mindset so brainwashed?
We finally got to Debra's aunt's apartment after an extended stroll on the Bund in our winter coats, and I was surprised to find that the buildings seemed smaller than they did in Australia, Europe or America. There were just as many floors, but the floors itself were shorter, the doors were less lengthy and the proportions of the room were all slightly smaller. The building looked like it had aged a bit, but seemed sturdy enough. On the front door of the apartment was a Chinese character in gold and red, hung upside down - Debra later told me that it represented 'luck' (or was it 'fortune'?), and that it was seen as lucky to hang it upside down. I had brought a box of chocolates for her aunt, which she was grateful for, even though she didn't eat chocolate!
I had a room all to myself while Debra and her aunt shared a large fold-out bed in the living room. They seemed to enjoy being in close proximity to each other like that, so everyone seemed happy. My room was painted a jade colour and featured a large dark wooden wardrobe, which contained a jacket belonging to Debra's father that the family let me wear.
Here's a pic of me in the jacket, posing "Chinese-style" with a tree:
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