Shanghai slideshow

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Update on Disney in Shanghai

     In one of my previous blog entries, I mentioned the presence of Disney in China. There had been rumors for a long time about a Shanghai Disney Project. The main focus of the project being the announcement of plans to build a Disneyland theme park in Shanghai. The Chinese government would not comment on the project until recently. Last week, China finally made the announcement that Disneyland would be coming to Shanghai, becoming one of the biggest foreign investment projects to take place in China. Certainly, the project is a way for Disney to expand its global presence internationally. I mentioned in a previous post that Disney is also working on a movie project in Shanghai based off of their hit movie High School Musical. Disneyland is another step in Disney expanding itself into the international arena. I saw a few Disney stores when I would walk around. I showed my host family pictures of my trip to Disneyworld a few years ago and they recognized many of the Disney characters immediately, especially Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I showed them some photos of a musical performance featuring Mickey and Minnie and other notable Disney characters such as Daffy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. They recognized the pictures I showed them of a man dressed as  Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He was doing a street performance and I remember being very impressed at how identical his mannerisms and voice was to the character played by Johnny Depp.

     Theme parks are becoming very popular in China. There is already a Disneyland in Hong Kong. When I was in Shanghai, there were several different parks, amusement parks, and water parks to choose from. Disneyland in Shanghai is set to open in 2014. It will be a downscaled sized Disneyland  I am happy for the friends I made in Shanghai to have Disneyland in their city. From my experience in Shanghai, I could definitely sense a great Western influence in the city. A few years ago, there  was a mandate to change the street signs in China to include English as well as Chinese characters. Events like the Shanghai Expo and the building of Disneyland show that China is expanding itself to include the Western world. People from all over the world and several different countries will participate in the Expo next year. The United States will have a big influence in the event. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE5A30UD20091104

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aEkAUvcBZD2E

http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2009/11/plans-for-shanghai-disneyland-advance-but-how-big-will-it-be/

An Overheated China

    

     One of the first things I noticed about Shanghai was how incredibly overpopulated it was.  Obviously, China as a whole suffers from overpopulation. That is the main reason for the institution of the one-child policy. However, it is one thing to know about China’s overpopulation and another thing to see it first hand. Subways were always extremely packed. Anytime I would walk the streets of Shanghai there would be people everywhere. It was never quiet and always very lively. There was never a dull moment that’s for sure.

     An article I read in the New York Times talks about concerns over Chinese economic overcapacity. Over the past 30 years, one of the largest migrations in China took. Several hundred million Chinese peasants moved from the countryside to city life. Obviously, they do this because they are looking for a better life. I saw this documentary about a Chinese girl from the countryside who sought work in the city. She found work on a cruise ship, but the transition was very difficult. She had little to no education because her parents couldn’t afford it. As a result, she was at an obvious disadvantage as many of her co-workers had more education, especially in English. Working on a cruise ship, speaking English was critical with the high volume of tourism in China from foreigners coming in. She lived in the countryside with her parents in a very makeshift “home.” Essentially, they lived in a one room shack. The shack was shoddy at best, susceptible to being blown over in a fierce wind over eroding because of a pouring rain. Despite being only 14 years old, the girl needed to work in order to survive and be able to support her parents. She could not proceed in her education and go on to high school and later college because of her dire economic situation.

     The article, written by Tyler Cowen, expresses concern that too much economic expansion could be a bad thing for China. There might be too much optimism, and they might be overextending their economic boundaries. Cowen is a professor at George Mason University. Cowen compares potential problems China might face with some of the problems the United States has had in the past and recently. There has been talk in China about restricting investments in sectors because of the weak global market.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/business/economy/29view.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSSHA35298520091127

http://seekingalpha.com/article/175451-the-next-phase-of-the-crisis-is-beginning-with-an-eye-on-china

High School Musical Remake

     When I was in Shanghai, one of the first things I wanted to do was go to a show. There were so many options, but I eventually settled on seeing Chinese acrobats, a show called The Intersection of Time playing at the Shanghai Circus Arena. It was a wonderful show with great athleticism, dancing, and music. I was amazed by the show, and even more amazed later when I found out that they run that show seven days a week every night. Many of the stunts they did were very dangerous. It takes an incredible amount of talent and focus to do those stunts every night. When I went, I would say the arena was about 60% full which is not bad on a Tuesday night. Acrobats are more popular with foreigners than locals. In older times, acrobats were seen as lower-level entertainment for lower-income citizens. That sentiment towards acrobats still exist today. There were very few Chinese at the show I went to.

     There are several places in Shanghai to see films and shows. The Yifu theatre is a popular place for Chinese opera. There were several movie theatres to choose from, with Chinese and American movies to watch. Some of the theatres showcase much older vintage Chinese films. When I was in Shanghai, Swan Lake was being held regularly at the Shanghai Theatre at People’s Square. Occasionally, sometimes I would see street performances when I was walking around the city. These are cultural performances meant to showcase the roots of Chinese culture. When I would visit Chenghuang temple, a place many tourists visit, cultural performances with music, costumes, and dancing were often the norm.

     One of Shanghai’s most recent productions is a film loosely based off of the popular Disney Movie High School Musical. High School is being used as the main inspiration for the film, but not a direct translation of the Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens franchise.  Disney is co-proudcing the film with partners in China. The film is scheduled for release next Summer and will be the sixth international co-production by Disney.  The premise of the film  focuses on a couple from two completely different cliques- a basketball player and a science geek. There were discussions about revolving the film around martial arts, but basketball is more popular in China, so the film is centered around the theme of basketball. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/23/chinese-high-school-musical-disney

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtuaP1rRaY6BaLdwTlO7mbKxylCAD9C51BEO1

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/11/23/disney-china.html

Obama and China

President Barack Obama began his first visit of the People’s Republic of China on Sunday. He assured several hundred Chinese students in Shanghai at a forum that the United States had no intention of containing China’s rise to power, while also assuring them of the desire to continue to build a strong communicative relationship with their neighbors in the Far East.

Obama also mentioned human rights and freedom on the internet. When I was in China, they banned several websites including popular social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube. This censorship stemmed largely from a riot that happened in Northern China about a week before I had arrived in China. Chinese government were concerned about younger people using these sites as a way of building more social and political unrest, so they were censored. They were fearing an uprising, similar to what happened in the Middle East with the Neda incident reaching YouTube.

Another thing I noticed when I was in Shanghai this summer was how popular Obama was. I remember visiting a wax museum one time and the very first figure anyone would see when they walked inside was a wax figure of Obama. Recently, there have been stories about the Chinese government wanting to put an end to the “Oba-Mao” shirts that are being sold. The shirts play off of former leader of the People’s Republic of China Mao Zedong, showing a drawing of Obama wearing a Red Army uniform and posing much like Zedong is famously known for.

Obama said he felt it was important that all ethnic and religious minorities should have access to freedom of expression and worship. According to Obama, “The more open we are, the more we can communicate and it also draws the world together.”

But Obama isn’t just touring Shanghai, he is visiting all parts of China. He’s all meeting family members. On Monday in Beijing, Obama briefly met his half-brother Mark Ndesandjo. The encounter was only said to be about five minutes long. Obama himself has said in the past that he barely knows his half-brother. Obviously, neither of the two grew up together. Obama Sr. married Ndesanjo’s mother after divorcing Barack’s mother and returned to Kenya to raise Mark with his new wife. Today, Ndesandjo lives near Hong Kong, China working as a marketing consultant. It was not the first time the two have met. Ndesandjo also met with the president during the president’s inauguration in January.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/asia_pacific/view.bg?articleid=1212829&srvc=rss

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/16/barack-obama-shanghai-students-china

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091117/wl_asia_afp/chinausdiplomacymediacnn_20091117004408

Q and A about Shanghai

1. Do I need to be concerned about scamming?

     Yes, unfortunately scamming is very common in Shanghai. Locals will rarely do it to one another, but foreigners are often preyed upon. The most notorious scam is the tea ceremony scam. Typically, what happens is a young group of Chinese students will approach foreigners asking them to take their picture. Then, they will try to socialize with the foreigners, asking them about what they’ve seen so far and what they’re doing in China. After working to build their trust, they will ask the foreigners to attend a tea ceremony. At the tea ceremony, they will take advantage of the likelihood that the foreigners are not fluent in Chinese. They will order very expensive tea. The bill could run to as much as $1,000-2,000. Usually, the scammers work with these tea houses and they will try to peer pressure you to pay. 

2. What are the best places to visit?

     The most popular tourist attraction is East Nanjing Road. It is the premier shopping street in all of Shanghai with wonderful restaurants and clothing stores. There never is a dull moment at East Nanjing Road. No matter what day or time, it is always extremely crowded and lively. People’s square, which is adjacent to East Nanjing Road, is also a very popular attraction. People’s square is a wide open area consisting of the  Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Urban Planning Center, Shanghai Theatre, City Hall, and People’s Park. Shanghai Museum is four floors high, containing a wide variety of Chinese history.  The highlight of the museum is the sculpture exhibit, containing different forms of sculpture over several centuries and different ancient Chinese dynasties.

3. Where are the best places to eat?

     One of the most popular places to eat is the food court at Wiujiang Road. Wiujiang Road is an entire street comprised only of restaurants stacked next to one another. Many of these places are very small and may only be able to hold only 5-10 people in it. The highlight of Wiujiang Road is its dumplings, otherwise called jiaozi. Jiaozi is a fried dumpling with pork inside of it. The dumpling is typically served as soon as it comes out of the frying pan. It is wise to only bite a small portion of the dumpling first, because there is also a hot soup that will ooze out. Typically, Jiaozi is eaten dipped in vinegar.

Google Map of Shanghai

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107867456332002504117.000478805d59c7a22072f&z=16

Shanghai the New Venice?

I’m reading an article right now about Shanghai’s concern over global warming. Sea levels are rising twice as fast as expected. With approximately 20 million people in its city, the city of Shanghai is feeling threatened by what the future might bring.  However, there is no rush to address this problem. Still, there are those who are concerned. In the article, an engineer named Ma Shikang mentions that when he was a kid growing up, he used to play on the river banks and swim in the water. Nowadays, the river is much higher than before. He points out that there are some homes below water level in one of Shanghai’s main attraction, the Bund. Edward Leman, an engineer from Ottawa, also  has concerns. He points out that investments and decisions regarding flood gates and levees need to be made now because they will have a heavy impact on the future. Currently, Shanghai has high flood gates, giving them better protection than cities like New York. But, if a major disaster (like Hurricane Katrina) ever hit them, they would be in trouble.

Zheng Hongbo says Shanghai won’t be under sea 50 years from now. It is not expected to be like Venice, Italy any time soon. It is not an imminent threat, but it is a concern. Planners in Shanghai believe they have plenty of time to address this issue. For now, they are focusing on other forms of construction such as new railroads, bridges, ports, etc.

Because of the construction of the thousands of high-rise buildings and skyscrapers in Shanghai, the city has been slowly shrinking over the decades. Shanghai in recent decades haas become a very modernized and industrialized city. I remember during my trip over the summer to Shanghai, I visited this one building called the Shanghai Urban Planning Center. The center was straight in the middle of the People’s Square area, one of the biggest tourist spots in Shanghai. The Urban Planning Center showed how Shanghai plans to develop in the future. It showed new ideas in regards to urban planning and holistic management. I remember on one of the floors, a presentation about how Shanghai is looking to correct the problems of global warming. I think visiting the center was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Each floor had a certain character to it. Each room was colored differently in red, blue, or green according to theme. There were plenty of interactive activities you could do there too, so it wasn’t boring.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTPv6G9k7vm82sEgxaNbatnRKzDwD9BDU8U02

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/2009/10/20/1020risingseas.html

http://shanghaiist.com/2009/10/19/chinese_venice.php

Income gap in Shanghai

From my personal experience of living in Shanghai this past summer, I noticed a very mercurial division of the city. On one hand, I would be amazed by the vast skyscrapers, wonderful skyline, and bright lights. Shanghai, to me, felt like the Asian version of New York City. The nightlife over there was very exciting. Every day when I would walk around, the streets would be busy and full of life. There never seemed to be a dull moment. On the other hand, when I would walk down another block or two past the glitz and glamour, I would see a lot of buildings that were dirty and degrading. The air was often foul, smelling like urine and smoke. I saw people who looked very worn out and tired. The clothes they had on were dirty and basic. From talking to people I met in China, and talking to my Chinese professor at Cal Poly, I realized that there is an enormous income gap in Shanghai. The rich are very rich and the poor are extremely poor, with very little chance of moving upwards with a communist government looming.

In China, it is all about connections. If you have a connection, you have a chance to make something successful out of yourself. If you don’t, it is virtually impossible I found out. Chinese over there don’t have anywhere near the same rights or opportunities that we have here in America. Most of the people at my work were low-income wage earners. One of the guys, Jonny, told me how much money he was making per month. When I heard the number, it was very alarming to me. Jonny has barely enough money per month for renting an apartment, utilities, and food. He has very little left to spare for anything else. He has been working at that company for almost five years and is still getting very little in return.

The bosses take advantage of the workers. Because, there are so many who are so poor and desperate for a job, it is cheap labor to them. I knew some girls at a bar who worked seven days a week. There were bosses there, but I never saw them doing much of anything. One of the bosses had a card he showed me saying he was the CEO- which stood for “Chief Entertainment Operator.” It seemed like the girls were having to do just about everything, which was sad to me.

Disneyland in Shanghai

     Currently, there is a Disneyland in Hong Kong. Now it looks as if there will be one in Shanghai. The Shanghai government is set to hold a news conference in the imminent future in regards to future plans with the Disney corporation. The mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng, wouldn’t comment on the subject. But, he did say there is a lot to talk about the subject of Disney and further information will be revealed with in the next week. A lot of Chinese think the announcement will coincide of Barack Obama’s overnight visit to the city of Beijing on November 15. Expected to be the main announcement is the creation of Disneyland in Shanghai. It has yet to be officially green lighted, but where there’s smoke there’s fire and all signs point to it Theme parks are very popular in China. When I was in Shanghai, I noticed that there were many theme parks near where I was staying in Shanghai this past summer. Disney itself is very popular with the Chinese. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the Chinese have a great fascination and interest in American culture. Not just in sport, but in entertainment. When I would walk by a DVD store, I would notice just as many American movie posters on the windows as Chinese movies. When I would walk by the movie theatres, I would see posters for American movies such as Transformers 2 and the latest Harry Potter movie.

     When I would walk by the famous Nanjing Road, one of the stores I remember passing by was the Disney store. I would show my host family pictures of Disneyland in California. They looked fascinated and intrigued by the characters they knew (ie: Mickey Mouse) and other characters such as Lito and Stitch. The establishment of a Disneyland in Shanghai is an example of China’s desire to ingratiate with the Western world. Obviously, it also helps promote Disney throughout the world.

     According to the article, “Last January, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Shanghai government and Disney had finalized a feasibility report and submitted it to China’s central government. It outlined a theme park costing around $4 billion that would open in phases starting around 2014 in a joint venture between Disney and local government-owned companies. If the project were to proceed, a next step would be for the study to gain approval, paving the way for contracts to begin development.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703294004574509210973188676.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_business

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jqEx0F9wdEci6dSC3RBfQsvR8zdA

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703294004574509210973188676.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_business