Archives for May 2023

Afternoon Silence

May 17, 2023 by Samantha Chen

My algorithmic walk took me to the construction right behind the Houtan Metro station. Despite the many sites of what seemed to be ongoing construction, there were no sounds of it or even construction workers.

As I continued my walk, only the sounds of harsh wind and the occasional cars passing by were to be heard. For me, this is a rare occurrence as Shanghai is littered with the smells, sights, and sounds of consistent construction.

Walking along the road, I noticed the light reflecting off of a road sign, making a rainbow in its impression. On a cold, windy day in February, almost complete silence and a reflection of light provided me joy,

Learning the Language of Flowers: Exploring Around Changshu Lu

May 6, 2023 by al7898

Every time I see flowers, I am reminded of my abuela. My fondest memories are of her telling tall tales of her garden in Costa Rica: of wild tiger lilies, roaring dandelions, and cawing birds of paradise that animals all over San José would flock to. If I were to explain this to my walking partner Sissi, who grew up here in Shanghai, I’d tell her 外婆 (wàipó), my mother’s mother. Perhaps she’d have her own stories of a grandparent, and memories of times in gardens, parks, yards — spaces made alive by flowers.

Walking the streets and lanes in the area around the Changshu Lu Metro Station in the former French Concession, I can’t help but notice the rows of flower shops that line the street; the cologne of the scene, with accents of nostalgia and cigarette smoke, begins to clump my throat.

Eventually, after passing by what seems like one upscale café after another, Sissi and I spot a floral vendor hidden by a half-open door in an alley and I immediately turn into it to gape at his cart of colors.

He sits on a worn-down blue office chair in his corner. The cart construction itself is simple: very obviously handmade blocks of wood create layers for the flower hierarchy. The expensive, exotic flowers sit on their wooden throne, overlooking the more common crowds of tulips and carnations down below. Compared to the more concrete stores a few steps away, his flowers are not only inexpensive, but more carefully tended to.

Soon enough, I pick a bunch of scarlet dahlias to adorn my dorm with and he goes again to a hidden bicycle to wrap them in newspaper with a certain tenderness visible to the watchful eye. Wrapping them is an art form he has practiced many times for his customers; perhaps they were lovers, mourners, or children. They could have been paramours, hiding their affairs in the petals of the roses, or widowers, offering atonement in daisies. But each person receives his dedicated attention nevertheless, for he is only a facilitator for matrimony between them and his precious flora.

a local flower shop with enough flowers for a garden

It is clear he speaks their language, a loving dialect formed from a subjective, often cultural, human interpretation of flowers. In China, I later learn, magnolias, once reputedly reserved for the emperor, have served as an emblem of wealth, honor, and a high esteem. Likewise, transcending the need for words in this culture are white peonies, whose presence indicates a thoughtfulness the giver wishes to convey. Perhaps instead of replacing words, they could paint a picture or manifest an abstract wish.

Of course, each culture has their own floral dialect. Back in Costa Rica, a flower known as La Guaria Morada, often tucked behind my abuela’s ear, is associated with her country’s feminine beauty and patriotism. Offering someone a bouquet of these perfumed beauties signifies fortune and good luck for the upcoming future, and many festivals are arranged throughout the year to celebrate their artistry.

Demonstrated in Costa Rica, flowers are most commonly tethered to the idea of beauty. Delicate, exquisite, and alluring, yes, but also fleeting in nature. When flowers are cut at their stems to act as our offerings, their lifespan rapidly deteriorates. On their destination to death, we humans decorate our spaces with their color to embrace the transience of their grace. In the short period that we are able to hold them, flowers bloom into full radiance, then wither away until their glory we worshipped enough to cut is no longer tangible. There is an emphasis on taking time to savor the little moments in life, ones where we exist at the same time as a flower’s lifespan, ones of Earth’s natural joy and beauty. Walking down Changshu Lu and the surrounding roads, the world suddenly seems a little brighter.

My adventure through these streets has been a bit like Alice’s in Wonderland. Everything seems to be outlandishly upside down and I find myself in a cart-shaped garden where the flowers are singing lovely songs to me. The people are shouting what sounds like nonsense and I’m overwhelmed with a particular nostalgia for home, but I insistingly follow my white rabbit (Sissi, who ironically happens to be running late for an appointment) in hopes to escape the outside world I’ve grown too familiar with. When I come out of the rabbit hole, it will all feel like a distant dream but the sights will be engraved in my mind, so as to not forget this golden afternoon.

“Plain Sight”: on Alienation in Standardized Urban Design

May 6, 2023 by sx2273

When I was wandering in the area around the Changshu Road Metro Station in Shanghai’s former French Concession, a shop named “Plain Sight” caught my eyes. Without knowing the intention behind the name, I found it echoing with the other shops in the old Art Deco-style building – they looked identical, with all of their signs on unified copper-like background, set into spaces of the same length equally divided by plain white cylindrical pillars with what looked to be a faux-marble finish. Although the street isn’t that long, the repetition of similar structure created an uncomfortable feeling of infinity in me, and left me wondering how and why so much modern and contemporary design and architecture creates this “plain sight” effect of endless sameness.

Roadside shops along Changshu Road. Every storefront is on the same plane and virtually identical with minimal personalization — a common feature of modernity and industrial design and part of Shanghai’s architectural history. The Shanghai government also often enforces this kind of standardization in renovated or recently gentrified historic areas. (Photograph: Steve Xu)

This building was once called Empire Mansion. Built in 1935, it was originally a residential building in Shanghai’s French Concession. Now, nearly 90 years later, its name has been changed to 淮海大楼 (the “Huaihai Building,” named after the broad street once known as “Avenue Joffre” that intersects with Changshu Road), the first floor of the building was made into commercial use, while the other floors remain as residential areas. I can’t help but see it as a representation of the modern urbanization of Shanghai, in which unified apartment blocks (or in its original name, “mansions”) began replacing old, single-house residences that were built and kept by an individual family, and in which urban commercial zones began to replace old, family run businesses and local markets. The process has been going on for a long time, going back to the early 20th century at least, and the old character of the city that once was is harder an harder to find. Even if a building like the Huaihai Building might stand out for its Art Deco design, its still part of a larger trend that has filled the city with nearly identical malls, towers, and renovations of historic areas.

The view reminds me of when I was young, the Diagon Alley (in Harry Potter novel) was exactly something like what I see on Changshu Road in my imaginations. Without watching the movie, I could only imagine the Diagon Alley be a street with concrete buildings and plain architecture, every shop looks very alike, you cannot tell whether a store is selling wand or clothes without looking at its sign. However, the movie presents me a very different and lively picture of the Diagon Alley, a street could be meandering, shops could have personalized banners and place their features outside their door, shop keepers don’t have to wear uniforms and could have their personality, just like Ollivander. Later, I saw some streets like the Diagon Alley in some suburb areas, including Qibao and Shaoxing, but they are made into tourist destinations, locals aren’t living their everyday life like that anymore. And, like the world of Harry Potter and the wizarding city, Shanghai still retains some of its old, quirky individualized magic.

Turn right at the corner, we step on Yanqing Road, a narrower road which looks much livelier. The roadside commercial shops look more personalized, with their own sign designs in their own fonts. A noodle restaurant’s neon banners to introduce their featured dishes: vintage Shanghai style spicy pork noodle and intestine noodles. A bubble tea shop named “Artist” has chosen a very artistic way of opening its windows, in addition, they stuck several “福字” (“Fu” calligraphy signs) on their windows to express their wishes for good luck. A clothing shop has chosen to use a single large plate glass window as their gate, giving itself a fancy and fashion look…

Though it is far from Diagon Alley, it’s livelier than the standardized storefronts around the corner, and carries a hint of old Shanghai magic.

Road side shops of Yanqing Road, shops look more personalized with decorations and features.

According to pioneering German sociologist Max Weber, we have been experiencing what he calls “alienation” as a result of modernity and urbanization. Urbanization is bringing everything to the same format, chained stores and unified brand management are replacing family-run businesses, the city is on its way to a standardized machine, of which every single screw is replaceable, encouraging alienation even more — what’s the point of personalizing my shop if it doesn’t belong to me, and I even don’t know how long it will last. As customer, I found it hard to build personal connection with these stores or their employees, they won’t remember your preferences – coriander or not? More pepper? They won’t even remember you if you order via cell phone, customers are just a code, “D4601” for example, to them. The social relation between us is limited to only customer – provider relation, feeling like talking to a robot, I could no longer feel the authenticity of interacting with a real human being.

Knowing the process of urbanization and informationization is inevitable, where are human society heading for? Are we really going to live in a Chaplin world?