Elizabeth's best day EVER so far in Shanghai Sept 15, 2010

Before getting to the photos, I want you to first read some background information about migrant schools. Just humour me. If you already know all about migrant schools, you have my permission to skip ahead. If you don't, seriously, please read this so you are familiar with this situation prevalent throughout south east China.

I took this from the website for Stepping Stones, a charity that organizes volunteer teachers for these migrant schools. The website gives a much better explanation than I could.

If you want to read more, Stepping Stones' address is http://steppingstoneschina.net/?page_id=1258

I saw a Stepping Stones brochure the first week I arrived in Shanghai. From that moment on, I knew it was just a matter of time before I was in a classroom again. It didn't take long. 

About Migrant Schools in Shanghai

With rapid economic growth and social change in China, the migrant or floating population has increased rapidly over the last few years. Official estimates put Shanghai’s migrant worker population at 5 million. Leaving their hometown in rural areas, most of these migrants take low-ranking jobs and have little access to urban resources such as information, medical care and welfare services.

The children of migrant workers move with their parents to become temporary residents in urban cities like Shanghai. Due to their families’ low economic and social status, living conditions can be extremely low. Lack of integration with the local population also leads to prejudice and discrimination.

According to government statistics, there are almost 400,000 migrant children of school age (1st grade primary to 3rd grade middle school) living in Shanghai. A large proportion of these children attend regular Shanghai schools. However, for several reasons, including residence registration issues and lower educational standards, many migrant children cannot be admitted to normal Chinese schools, and around 40% of these migrant children go to school in one of the 200+ small private schools for migrant children which have sprung up, mostly in the suburbs of Shanghai, to provide a basic education for these children.

These schools were all illegal at the outset, as there was no legal way to establish such a school. Many of these schools were in over-crowded, sub-standard buildings with poor facilities – typically dilapidated desks and chairs in over-crowded classrooms with bad lighting. Their short history has been unstable – some of them have moved many times and others have been closed. Many schools still lack the facilities which are taken for granted in normal Shanghai schools, such as computers, projectors, sports equipment, etc.

The objective of Stepping Stones is to assist students in migrant schools in Shanghai to gain interest and confidence in their English language abilities and to help them pass their middle school entrance examinations.

Thank you for reading that. Really. It means a lot.

Teaching didn't take up the entire day, but it was definitely the highlight. I had committed before Susan arrived to volunteer teach ESL (English as a Second Language) at  Tang Si Elementary School. Susan gamely offered to come along and assist. Not everyone gets to do that when they visit Shanghai! I was so glad she came, as we had our hands full, as you can see.

This is Susan, trying to stand out amongst our class of 55, yes 55, Grade 3 students.


Like the red scarves? All Chinese students wear them. It shows that they are members of the Young Pioneers of China, which in turn is run by the Communist Youth League. Check it out on Wikipedia, if you like.

Can you see me?

Can you see me now?

We had the students select their own English name to write on a tri-fold paper name card.  I wanted to let them choose their own identity. I drew up a list of the classics, trying to avoid names with "ls" and "rs" e.g. Fred or Carrie.   Maybe you see your name on the board. I did use friends and family as inspiration.

As is typical, some students got the idea right away, some were still struggling with the task of folding the paper.  A friend jokingly suggested I should have given them the choice of preppy names. Just what China needs, another Buffy. Still, it would've been funny to see their native English teachers' reactions years down the road...

T: What's your name, young man?
S: Chip Wang.
T: And you, young lady?
S: Bootsy Xu.
T: Riiight, at least no one's called Lincoln or Seven.

Yours truly collecting their self-made name cards after the 35-minute class. I know! Nowhere near enough time! Talk about herding cats! You can see my two fellow Mandarin-speaking teachers, one with her finger up, the other in the doorway. Thank goodness I had them with me! 

One little girl stands out already. This is her name card.

I can hardly wait to go back. Once a week is not going to be enough.

Elizabeth goes to Shanghai Museum Sept 14, 2010

Since it was really raining that day, Susan and I opted for some indoor activity, namely checking out the Shanghai Museum. Shanghai, of course, has numerous museums. This one has free admittance (my favourite price!), a truly beautiful gift shop, a tea house and a small restaurant. Shanghai Museum focuses on ancient Chinese art. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to see it all, but I plan on going back. It really merits several visits. You know me, I like to "do" museums properly and in their entirety.

The Shanghai Museum

I quote from the Museum's brochure,

"... its present building, completed in 1996, is shaped like a square base and a round top attached with arches like a bronze Ding [no idea what that is, maybe some kind of pot, definitely a container of some kind], indicating the ancient Chinese philosophy of the universe that the earth is square while the sky is round. In front of the building stand eight imposing white marble statues of guardian lions."


Darn! I didn't get photos of the lions. Oh, well, use your imagination.

Atrium of the Museum

looking up...

and looking down....

The first gallery we visited was the Chinese Ethnic Minorities' Arts and Crafts Gallery. Absolutely lovely ceremonial costumes and everyday garb from all over China. Note the dramatic dragon.

An example of the type of garment in the gallery. I did not take this photo. I thought you couldn't take photos, but then I saw everyone else doing it, so I started to as well, but not until I was leaving the gallery. Then, of course, I read the sign at the entrance more carefully saying that you could take photos, as long as you didn't use a flash. Live and learn, Elizabeth, live and learn.

Not every piece was this spectacular, but they all displayed an incredible level of detail and handiwork.  Very humbling for someone who is challenged sewing on a button.

This gallery also featured bigger items, such as silver jars, bronze statues, painted lacquer dinner sets and  these wooden fishing boats with carved and painted designs made by the Gaoshan people. These people were living on an island near Taiwan. The carved designs are clan marks. I believe it.

They remind you of Canadian canoes, don't they?

Next gallery was the Chinese Ming and Qing Furniture Gallery. 

Once again, I quote from the brochure for your edification, 

"The Ming furniture is characterized by a simple and elegant structure with fluent [sic] lines and appealing proportions. And the Qing furniture in contrast is larger and more imposing with elaborate carving and inlaid decoration. "

Now you know. It is actually remarkably easy to distinguish the two. I prefer the Ming. What about you? Have a look for yourself and see if you can figure out which piece is in which style. (Oh, man! There's a test?!?)

Yep, Qing. You may have seen it written as "Ching". Now they spell it "Qing", but still pronounce it "Ching", just to confuse you. For those who like weird alphabet mnemonics, and you know who are, this one is right up your alley! Q as in Ching, indeed!

This is in which style?

Ming, yep. Again, I am not responsible for this photo. I thought while the Ming style is pretty, the Qing style made more of an impression, so I concentrated on that one. 

This chair is called an official's hat armchair because the ends of the top rail flip up and out like a Ming official's hat. 

Here's a more obvious example from the Web:

and here is a Ming official in his hat:

See? I did not make up that last fact. I'm already becoming more knowledgeable about things Chinese. The higher ranking the official, the bigger his "wings".

O.K.,  I did make that up, but it could be true.

Back to the furniture quiz...no scrolling ahead or peeking!

DEFINITELY Qing.

Qing again. Can you imagine this in your house?

Detail of cabinet. Sorry it's blurry. Think of all the work that went into this piece of furniture, all by hand. Impressive.

Finally, we stopped at the Ancient Chinese Jade Gallery, where they displayed all kinds of artifacts, from Neolithic ritual pieces to jewelry to decorative objects and personal ornaments, including burial pieces placed on the face of the dead. Fascinating! I could go on and on, about all the cultural implications of jade, but I won't. I have to leave you with something to discover on your own when you visit! I will leave you with this last image though.

Jade ornament with flowers and grapes

Friday Funny

Hello everyone.

This photo was taken at a very nice gym in one of Shanghai's fanciest shopping districts, Huaihai Road.

This of course, begs a few questions. Where else would one use a hair dryer? How many people were using it "inappropriately"? How many people complained about said inappropriate use before management took action? Who had the guts to complain in the first place?

This will give you something to ponder over the weekend.

Have a good one!

Elizabeth goes to Yu Yuan Market Sept 13, 2010

After a solid night's sleep, Susan and I hit the Yu Yuan area to select souvenirs for her family.

What a place! So spread out!  I had never been there, so Susan was really putting a lot of faith in me.

This is just the entrance gate to the Yu Yuan area. It gives you an idea of the monumental design and old style of some of the buildings. Don't ask me what style. Like I said earlier, I had never been here before. I was too busy dodging scooters to read up in a guide book. I believe this could be Qing Dynasty and really, how would any of you know? Apologies to my Mandarin-reading friends who can decipher the characters.

The Yu Yuan area has as its centre the Yu Yuan Garden, which is surrounded by the old market, which in turn is surrounded by new buildings, some are "old-style".

This is just one of the numerous "old-style" newer buildings on the fringe of the Yu Yuan area, which goes for blocks and blocks and blocks. Seriously. You could shop all week here, not that I would want to.

The newer fringe has loads of restaurants, stores and buildings crammed with hundreds of vendors.

The old market sprung up to meet the needs of visitors coming to the nearby City God Temple. In traditional Chinese belief, each city or town had a god that watched over it. Pay attention, there will be a quiz at the end of this post.

It took us a while to find the actual old market. Thank goodness English-speaking fellow tourists are so easy to spot here! They pointed us in the right direction.

We headed into the rabbits' warren of the old market. Fortunately, we had our blue, omnipresent friend, Haibo, the mascot of Expo, to lead us on and comfort us. You can barely make him out in the throng of umbrellas.

Looking back down the same lane way. Haibo is just visible. The yellow banners are goldfish. By the way, it wasn't even crowded yet. It was in the morning and it was raining off and on.

Our first stop. I had to model this "traditional" Chinese headdress. I couldn't resist. I hope somebody here in Shanghai has a Halloween party. This would be perfect! You can't make it out easily, but there is a black, bow-type adornment on either side of the enormous pink peony from which the red tassels are hanging. Cute, yes? I know, you want one, too. Christmas is coming...

No idea who this fellow is in the lobby of a jewelry store, but anyone with coins in his sleeve is a friend of mine! I think he brings good luck to the store owners. That sounds plausible, right?

We did a lot more shopping. I will spare you all the gruesome details, except to say that you have to bargain hard, deal with a crush of people and try to remember  exactly where you saw that stunning silk article.

Susan and I stopped for lunch at the premier xiaolongbao (dumpling) place in Shanghai. They love their xiaolongbao here. Technically, xiaolongbao are steamed buns, but dumpling is shorter to say and type.
Anyway, the restaurant we went to is called Nan Xiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. You all know my aversion to any food wrapped in cooked, soft dough (dim sum, perogies, matzo balls, etc), but I toughed it out for the sake of the experience.

You can watch them make your dumplings, but much like watching hot dogs being made, sometimes it's best not to.

Our salads

Our steamed buns, so to speak.

Note authentic bamboo steamers.

Of course, me being me, I had to order dessert. Not a huge selection in this restaurant, but again I was game to try something, if for nothing else than to be able to say that I had tried it.

Yes, you did read that correctly. They're trying to spell "fungus" and "pumpkin". Susan went for "pumprin", while I bravely chose the purple (purple?!?) sweet potato.

I couldn't even begin to guess what the white "fungns"was.  It was crunchy and mercifully flavourless. Both desserts tasted like baby food. Blech! I never have to sample that again.

View from the restaurant 2nd floor window

Hey! Wait a minute! How did he get up there?!?

A broader vista from the restaurant 2nd floor window

Those skyscrapers in the background are on the Pudong (west) side of the Huangpu River.

Ground floor view, slightly different angle. Part of the market is over water, as you have figured out.

Fortified by steamed buns and "fungns", Susan and I continued shopping after lunch. There was an overwhelming array of stuff. Too much stuff.

I will now just show you photos of the buildings, not the stuff, in no particular order (my favourite kind of order!).

Yes, they have DQ and Starbucks in China. I know, kind of sad, but at least they're in old buildings. Maybe that makes it sadder...and you caught me. This last shot was taken from inside Starbucks. I admit it, I went there, but I needed a coffee. At least I didn't go to KFC or Mickey D's for lunch!

This should cheer you up, a Chinese-style food court.  I think it needs to be more brightly-lit.

A traditional dragon (?) guarding a store. Once again, I could make up facts and you wouldn't know.

For those of you exasperated by my lack of accurate information, rest assured that by the end of my first year in Shanghai, I'll be much more knowledgeable.

Another street scene...

Here we go around the corner...

Love the pointy roof corners and the details in the architecture.

Speaking of details, check this out.

A close-up of the same type of medallion.

This was a very cool contraption, obviously a very "old-school" form of public entertainment. You pay the man your money, sit on a bench, stick your face up close to a round porthole and watch the show.  As he changes the back-lit, hand-drawn pictures, he narrates the story. The tale seems to be an old Chinese folk story about two naughty, disrespectful boys. There's even some blood and gore! I won't tell you what happens, in case you want to see it for yourself.

We left Yu Yuan Market around 5:00pm. We did go back another day. In the interest of comprehension, I want to keep the topics together, so forgive me for mixing my dates and including these "out of order", but in context, photos.

This is the entrance to the City God Temple. Do you recall that temple that started it all? I know, the beginning seems a long time ago, or maybe that's just me.

Detail from second tier roof, left hand side, near white building.

Just inside the temple gates, you could buy incense, traditional Chinese medicine or be gently beaten with these flexible, slim switches, like this fellow. It actually looked rather relaxing, but we didn't have time to indulge. We also didn't have time to go in and view the temple, but I bet it looks a lot like the Jade Buddha Temple in terms of design and layout.

Next post, the Shanghai Museum!

Elizabeth has dinner at Xin Tian Di Sept 12, 2010

Hello everybody. I know it's been a while since I posted a "real" entry. I've been busy doing stuff, touristy stuff. I know! So exciting!

Before I tell you my latest adventures, I have to get over my most recent jolt of culture shock. I am not a squeamish person, but Shanghai is starting to test my limits of "eeewwww".

The latest boundary-testing incident happened in Carrefour, our local grocery store which is a huge Super Wal-Mart type chain from France. Anyway, there I am buying stuff for dinner and what do I see? A sweet Chinese toddler sitting in the grocery cart seat, like any other kid you've seen...except he's wearing split pants and I can see his winkie and his bum touching the very same seat where I would put my bag. Eeeeewwww!!!! Please tell me they disinfect those grocery cart seats on a quasi-regular basis.

I came home and have never wanted to boil my hands in Purell as much as I did today. Blech!!!

  

Now these pants make a lot of sense, are great for the environment, make it easier to toilet train cute kids, etc, etc, but still! Just keep your seat off my seat, so to speak. 

O.K. Got that out of my system. Now I can tell you what I've been up to.

Rakesh's colleague, Rich, and his wife, Susan, were in Shanghai last week. While the men were at a conference (suckers!), I was playing tour guide to a very patient Susan. Talk about a trial by fire! She wanted to see stuff, of course, and I had no idea what we should be seeing, how to get there, what things were once we got there or if we were even in the right place. I can't believe she put so much faith in someone who was still so wet behind the ears. 

We survived, and in style, as you will see from the photos to come. 


The first day of their week, Sun June 12, was quiet. Rakesh and I were considerate enough to allow them to recuperate from their jet-lag during the day. 

At night, we all went to a part of town called Xin Tian Di for dinner. Xin Tian Di means New Heaven and Earth. The area is kind of like Yorkville in terms of quaintness and cost, but car-free. The construction of the houses, which now hold galleries, restaurants, bars and high-end boutiques, is typical style of 1920's Shanghai architecture called Shi Ku Men. Basically, it means "houses with stone-framed gate" and it combines both Western and Chinese elements. 


You didn't know my blog was going to be so educational, did you?


So here are the photos, in no particular order:

Random street scenes, very romantic and mysterious, definite European flavour.

If I squint my eyes just so, I can imagine I'm in Italy. 

More street scenes, it's dark, I know. Still very romantic. Think of it that way and not poor lighting or photography skills.

You remember the part where I said, "In no particular order",  right?

This is near the site of the First Conference of the Communist Party of China. Hmm.






After a lot of gawking, we went to a fabulous Chinese restaurant for dinner.

Details, details, details....

Window outside restaurant

Little vignette Chinoise outside restaurant

Statue inside restaurant

After dinner, we went for a walk around the Xin Tian Di neighbourhood, a very nice place to take a stroll.

Fountain with statues in a plaza.

Yours truly

Yours truly with the ubiquitous Expo mascot, Haibao, who was also hanging out in the same plaza.

Haibao has more outfits than Barbie. 

Part of the scenery on the way home, the amazing Pearl of the Orient Tower. Twenty dollars says you'll be seeing more of that in the future. It is one of the premier sights in Shanghai.

Looks surreal, doesn't it?

More surreal images

The Louis Vuitton store. Yes, this is Communist China.

The Shanghai World Financial Centre, up close and personal, all 93 storeys of it. It's only the second tallest structure in the world. You'll be seeing this again, too.