I’ m coming to Shanghai at a speed of 432 km/h. It’s a speed of Maglev (the first train derived from magnetic levitation). Pressed into the comfortable chair I physically feel the key modern Chinese word- fast! Extremely fast!
It takes 5 days to construct a 15-storey building and a month to build a futuristic traffic intersection. What a person can catch it up?
A young one! Teens on funky rollerblades, students, lookers in kawaii hats - these are the people who "make the city”. They’re still teasing the Great business dragon & staying aside from offices. What is so appealing in shopping to them?
Shanghai – is one huge mall. There’re 8 sight-stops on a tourist bus route around the city. All the time between the stops a guide tells us about shops we’re passing by: "Look to the right- there’s a Garden of Joy and right after you can see an 8-storey mall where all the luxury brands are represented”.
A giant plasma with Audi commercials reflects the Gade Buddha Temple. Surprisingly, you can see a group of teenagers inside the temple. They’ve come to pray with friends: three girls are throwing coins on the cooper altar; two boys are fuming incenses & winking to the girls.
"Noodles” & "Dumplings” & Sturbucks & MacDonald’s, these are the places recently haunted by young Chinese. This inevitably is changing they way they look. Clothes shops are shifting from east sizes to European medium.
But obviously overweight is the only health trouble that can bother Chinese in future. It’s a rare case to see a smoker on the street. They hardly ever drink. And yet, they are all big fans of KTV, special karaoke, when people not only sing, but dance as well. The central KTVs are overcrowded all week around. It’s not only an entertainment but also a dating place.
Love and youth always go side by side. It’s always St Valentine’s Day on the main Shanghai promenade Nanjing Road. Chinese couples meet here & greet each other with a European "hello-kisses”. Next to Nanjing there is People Square, where parents arrange their children personal life. Welcome to the Brides’ market! The assortment is on the ads, stuck to the trees: "some family would be happy to arrange their daughter”. Her educational background, horoscope & genealogy are below. You can see the detail on her personal website.
There’re no Facebook, Youtube or Twitter. But all of them have their domestic analogues. Chinese totally prefer their local Baydoo to Google. They are proud of their country & at the same time absorb everything new, adopting it to habitual scopes. In Shanghai only can you find a 6-floor Barbie store. A step out of the pink world & you are in the store hall, where a traditional music concert is taking place. Hundreds of teens are shaking their brand plastic bags in the rhythm of some Chinese "Vo pole berezka”.
On my flight back from Shanghai I read the book titled "When a billion Chinese jump”. My neighbor, a student from Beijing giggled: "Just imagine what willhappen if a billion Chinese say "”WOW!”
A giant plasma with Audi commercials reflects the Gade Buddha Temple. Surprisingly, you can see a group of teenagers inside the temple. They’ve come to pray with friends: three girls are throwing coins on the cooper altar; two boys are fuming incenses & winking to the girls.
Love and youth always go side by side. It’s always St Valentine’s Day on the main Shanghai promenade Nanjing Road. Chinese couples meet here & greet each other with a European "hello-kisses”. Next to Nanjing there is People Square, where parents arrange their children personal life. Welcome to the Brides’ market! The assortment is on the ads, stuck to the trees: "some family would be happy to arrange their daughter”. Her educational background, horoscope & genealogy are below. You can see the detail on her personal website.
