Culture 101: Shanghai's Quirkiness

Whenever I go to a different place, I really don't pay attention to the touristy sites when I take pictures. It's because I can always google these tourist places and usually already find very nice shots taken by professionals. 

Instead, I tend to focus more on the quirky things / events that make a particular place unique. So I focus my spotlight on Shanghai and the things that make it unique to other cities. They're not in particular order, so apologies if I would jump from one picture to the next. 

Without further ado... here we go! :)

Very very cute shirts. These guys work for Velvet Lounge, one of the more popular bars especially among foreigners in Shanghai. As much as it's quite cute, I would feel slightly embarrassed if I were the one wearing the shirt. But I guess if it would make my job a bit easier, I wouldn't mind. 

Mainland China has a tendency to be instinctively amusing when it comes to their English signs and where they're placed, just like this "Fire Hose" sign. I actually couldn't figure out if they painted the guy first then decided to put the sign there for kicks or the other way around. Oh well, I will never know. Cheers to ambiguity and dirty minds. Hehe. 

Check out China's version of South Park. Or maybe it's Cartman's long lost Chinese daddy and his friend? This is what the people in Shanghai watch on the buses when going home after a day of work. Even though I couldn't understand these guys, I found them quite funny. 

Didn't expect to find Sylar in Shanghai! I wonder if he's off to find Chinese mutants and snatch their powers. :)

I wasn't surprised to see TV's found at the back seats in some of the taxis in Shanghai, as a lot of cars everywhere are starting to acquire this feature. I was surprised however, with the touch screen interface of the car TV's, allowing the passenger to actually play some games while waiting to arrive in their destination. Albeit very simple, it's something very entertaining, especially when one's bored. 

 

I guess KFC had a Chinese ancestor after all. :D

Not really a fan of Doraemon , but when there's too many of them in the window shelves, they started to grow on me. I'm sure this was a head turner among Asian girls there. Asian girls have a knack for liking cute stuff compared to other cultures, which explains the design. 

Well, it helps to improvise when the weather can vary from 9 to -4 degrees. In this car's case, the owner (I'm guessing a woman... please be a woman!) decided to make he car a bit more classy and fashionable during winter time. 

  
Santa! No wonder I kept seeing "Made in China" tags in all of my Christmas presents before! You do your Christmas shopping here! Why I didn't figure out the connection before, I would never know. 

So I guess this concludes that Santa's elves are actually Chinese. :)

 
I didn't expect these taxi driver shields to still exist in the city. I guess crime is still prevalent in the city. Honestly though, I don't believe it actually helps the drivers when they get mugged. 

More ways of coping with the cold. Check out the handles in the scooter. It's quite cool how such a simple concept can be so useful and widely accepted. 

Similar to the taxi shields above, I didn't expect babies to still wear these kinds of jeans in Shanghai. Basically, baby jeans have holes at their backsides in order to take a dump easier. I used to see a lot of these in Beijing. I guess having a hole on your butt is useful to some extent. Wouldn't want to wear his jeans now though. :)

And my favorite picture, which absolutely makes sense. If you want a Manicure, you should have a Panicure as well. :) Gotta love their English. 

I will miss Shanghai. It's a kind of place where I pass by the same street everyday and still see something new.

layman

Blogging Freedom

I currently find myself in one of the most exciting places to live in, a place known the world over. I'll be spending my Christmas here with my family, not to mention the other 1 billion people residing in this behemoth of a country. :) 

Sadly though, as much as I want to share my experiences and photos with my friends who are currently somewhere else, I will not be able to do it until I leave this place. Why? Some of the blogging sites I use are banned here in China.

China doesn't have complete freedom of speech, just like Singapore. Unlike Singapore though, China's restrictions extend to the online networks. Online Networking and Blogging sites such as Multiply and Livejournal are banned in China. As far as I know there is no official statement from the government why they have blocked these sites. Most agree however, that it might be due to unsavory political opinions about the government from the users of these sites.

I wonder how they do it actually. Does the government have a body that basically surfs the sites 24/7 and reads every single entry? Or do they result in finding key words from all the sites and methodically study each site and entry and decide which ones to block or not? What if the entries about China are in another foreign language? Do they have translators for it? No one knows.

All I know is that I share some of the government's sentiments for blocking these sites. Online media is a very powerful medium nowadays. Giving everyone power to voice out their concerns / issues would be detrimental to an emerging and maturing society if left uncontrolled. Blogs have influenced a lot of our decisions nowadays, whether they're for gadget opinions, political views, layman opinions, etc. So for a maturing society like China, the internet lifestyle boom may be dangerous because they may get influenced by sites that actually lead to the destruction of peace and harmony in the country through change of heart about their government. 

So yeah, it sucks, but they have their reasons. Thank goodness I can still log on to this blog. Otherwise, my holiday would really turn sour.

layman