Shanghai will have yet another major attraction to look forward to in the Year of the Monkey, with word that the museum that tells the story of our city’s history will soon take up a new permanent residence at the former Art Museum on the edge of People’s Square. As a fan of history museums in general, I was quite excited about the development, and have to commend the city on its choice of locations.
More broadly speaking, the new museum will become yet another feather in Shanghai’s cap as it builds up a stable of world-class attractions for both local residents and domestic and international travelers. Read Full Post…
When does one dud plus one dud equal success? The answer to that question is usually “never”, but our city doesn’t seems unaware of that fact as it gets set to roll out a new short-stay visa waiver program that looks remarkably similar to another 3-year-old one that failed to attract much interest.
The new program will allow visitors from 51 countries to enter China visa-free for up to 6 days starting over the weekend, or double the limit of up to 3 days under the previous pilot program. The original program suffered from a number of problems, and there’s every indication that this new expanded edition won’t see much improvement. Read Full Post…
This week’s Street View touches on news involving fireworks and bird flu, 2 rites of winter in Shanghai that bring pleasure for some but headaches and even fear for many in the case of bird flu. The first item brought a big smile to my face, as I read that Shanghai will deploy an army of thousands to enforce a complete ban on fireworks inside the outer ring road throughout the Spring Festival period. The second item was a bit more ominous, as the city reported the first 2 cases of humans infected with the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus this year.
Both of these stories come as we head into our coldest period of winter, with temperatures set to hit some of their lowest levels in years under the influence of a super cold front. It’s during times like these that people look to festive activities like setting off fireworks to add some cheer to the otherwise cold and Spartan winter atmosphere. Read Full Post…
A recent brouhaha at our city’s Gucun Park in Baoshan District, famous for its springtime cherry blossoms, is providing food for thought on the issue of public spaces, and what responsibilities our city and we as local citizens have for supporting these places. The case revolves around the park’s decision to rent out a large section of its space to a private company, which then rented the area out for wedding parties.
It’s clear that park managers took their action to raise more money. But what’s less clear is whether they did so because of budget shortfalls, or simply because they wanted to earn more than the 20 yuan ticket price that people pay for admission. Read Full Post…
Everyone has been buzzing this past week about the new additions to Shanghai’s subway system, which has become one of the world’s biggest since its explosive expansion starting around the World Expo of 2010. But while the earlier focus was on simply opening new lines and stops at a breakneck pace, now the city is turning its attention to the more subtle art of trying to make these newest stations more artistic and individual by incorporating themes related to China and Shanghai itself.
The attempt to make our subway more attractive is part of a broader trend that has seen many Chinese cities move beyond an earlier mentality that focused solely on functionality, to one where they try to create spaces, buildings and other elements that add some local flavor. In Shanghai’s case such a move is quite easy, since the city has such a rich history and also boasts many buildings and other historical sites and relics that are still present and in relatively good condition. Read Full Post…
This week we’ll take a break from the taxi wars and bike promotions shaking up the streets of Shanghai and turn instead to our city’s health care system, where a quieter revolution is taking place in our hospitals. This particular campaign has seen Shanghai’s scores of hospitals and clinics aggressively cut back on their use of antibiotics, in response to growing global concerns that over-prescription of such drugs could lead to the rise of a new generation of superbugs.
This particular campaign is long overdue, and reflects a broader Asian fascination that gives drugs an almost god-like status with the ability to cure anything from minor sniffles to far more serious ailments like chronic pain. That view contrasts sharply with the US, where drugs are revered for their ability to cure many ailments but are also seen as limited in their ability to combat more ordinary conditions like common colds and body aches. Read Full Post…
A new pilot program for Shanghai’s taxis was small news in the headlines this week, even though the move itself is quite revolutionary. That’s my humble view after reading about the program being rolled out by Qiangsheng, our city’s largest fleet operator, which is taking the ground-breaking step of actually tying taxi drivers’ pay to their service rather than just how many miles they drive each month.
The program probably won’t have much impact on local traffic congestion, but could go miles towards restoring the rapidly-fading image of our city’s thousands of taxi drivers. I remember a time not so long ago when Shanghai was quite proud of its taxi fleet, which consisted of relatively courteous drivers who were immediately identifiable by their trademark white gloves and willingness to take you almost anywhere you wanted to go without complaint. Read Full Post…
I often use this space to spotlight news where Shanghai looks like a trendsetter, and that certainly looks like the case with a small but hopefully significant item involving the smartphones that have become an indispensable fixture of everyday life for many, myself included. This particular news has seen an entire department at a local university take the bold step of banning students from bringing their smartphones into class.
As a university teacher, I have to enthusiastically applaud the move by the School of Art, Design and Media at East China University of Science and Technology in Fengxian District. I also hope that many departments and perhaps entire universities will follow suit, and that the move could spark a broader debate about when, where and how it’s appropriate to use smartphones in a big city like Shanghai. Read Full Post…
This week’s Street View takes us to the courtroom, where a recent series of cases in and around Shanghai is spotlighting a uniquely Chinese approach to legislating the complex relationship between parents and their children. Each case in some way raises a topic that vexes many of us foreigners, who can’t understand why Chinese courts are increasingly mediating cases between parents and children who don’t get along but still feel a need to be together.
In the west this kind of case would never even occur, since family members who don’t get along simply avoid each other and that’s the end of the story. What’s more, western courts would rarely step in to try and mediate such purely personal disputes, and most legislators would never dare to touch the topic for fear of being accused of meddling in people’s private affairs. Read Full Post…
This week’s Street View takes us off the roads of Shanghai and into the office, as the issue of job titles in the workplace made national headlines. It seems that Vanke (Shenzhen: 000002), the property giant better known for its apartment blocks than corporate practices, attracted big attention when its Shanghai office banned the use of a popular honorific title used by many workers to address superiors.
The story casts a spotlight on the issue of job titles and the important role they play throughout face-conscious Asia, especially in China. When I first arrived in the region back in the mid-1980s, I was immediately impressed by how much importance people placed on job titles, and also how they loved to give out business cards. Read Full Post…
In my native US a telltale sign of a neighborhood in decline is the appearance of wig stores and pawn shops on the local streets. In big Chinese cities like Shanghai, the equivalent seems to be the appearance of makeshift shops and stalls selling old appliances and spare machinery parts. I visited one such Shanghai neighborhood this past week, my curiosity piqued after reading that the historic Dongjie flea market near the Bund was set for demolition.
I’m usually a big supporter of neighborhood preservation, especially when it involves old buildings, as I think such work helps to define a city’s distinctive character and local culture. But in this case there really wasn’t much to be saved at Dongjie, a fact that many of the merchants who face imminent displacement seemed to acknowledge. Read Full Post…
