Shanghai adventures, part II: If Rolling Stones ever tours China, it must be on a moped.

Day two in Shanghai is over. I am about to sleep. This city however, is not. It doesn’t sleep, ever. When the shops and the supermarkets close at 10 or so, the pubs, clubs and cafes take over. The night time life in this city is probably one of the best in China, and for us “westerners”, it will seem right at home too. In no other place is the western  ideal of lifestyle and culture more evident than in the industry that is primarily targeted at those who want it the most: youth and kids. All the most popular nightclubs and “partyplaces” in Shanghai are all done in western style – music, interior design, dress codes and menus. This is perhaps the essence of this extremely odd clash of cultures. China is one of the last successful communist states in the world, and yet, everything they do is about money and securing money for their kid(s). And it isn’t discouraged by the government either, as this industry provides thousands of thousands of people with jobs and a steady income. One that lightens the burden of the socialist republics welfare system, and one that generates billions in tax income each year.

I went to see the venue and to inspect the equipment today. The venue itself is old, and looks like something that would make perfect sense in a Clark Gable film. It is well equipped, again, somewhat old, but old lighting equipment has the brilliant (pun intended) advantage of not necessarily being better than new lighting equipment. Tomorrow is the big get-in and rigging day, so we shall see what my technical director and his crew of non-English speaking people will manage to come up with. I am actually surprised, but so far, all the equipment are original “western” brands and none of the famed Chinese copies. More on this tomorrow I guess.

The exploration into Shanghai went further today as I took the subway and crossed the river to the brand new part of Pudong. Now, there are skyscrapers and tall buildings all over Shanghai, with multinational corporations and living quarters next to each other all over. Pudong however, is another world. All business. All modern. And almost all western. This part has sprung up over the past 10 years, and features shiny glass and concrete structures in the 400m mark, extensive parks and leisure areas, state of the art transportation and infrastructure, and lots of people everywhere. I ventured up into the 350m high Oriental Pearl Radio and TV tower to get a better view and take some photographs over the city. It’s not until you see Shanghai from above that you really appreciate the size and expanse of this city. Now, 17 million is a lot of people, so obviously you imagine it’s gonna be big – but wow! It is enormous, it stretches further out than the eye can see… this is mainly because the air is so bad with pollution that you really can’t see very far… but still.

And last but not least, Chinese food continues to impress. Alan (the choreographer and dancer I am working with) picked the local restaurant today. The menu was scribbled on with pen to make it readable for non mandarin speakers, and it didn’t really make sense. But the staff was happy to help and suggested some things based on our preferences. In the end, we had the best sweet ‘n sour chicken, chow mein beef and tofu with seafood anyone of us has ever had. I will say it again: you have not had Chinese food until you have been to China.

Today’s observation: you know these pictures of people with way too much stuff on small bikes or mopeds that pops up on the internet or in your mailbox every now and then? They must all be true. I think that if a major touring band ever comes to China, they will simply drive all the equipment around the country on lots of scooters and mopeds. It is really crazy.

H out.