Shanghai Scrap

Due to some unexpected obligations, Shanghai Scrap will be on hiatus until May 14. I may login before then, but it’s unlikely. However, the site won’t remain static: at some point before the 14th, Shanghai Scrap will debut its promised redesign, complete with easier-to-read fonts. Three cheers for that.

In the meantime, fulfill your China blog cravings by visiting the fine sites listed in my blogroll to the lower right.

Thanks to all of my readers! I’ll see you in a few weeks.

-Adam

Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, and other news organizations are reporting that the China Philharmonic Orchestra, along with the Shanghai Opera House Chorus, will perform Motzart’s Requiem on May 7, in the Vatican, for Pope Benedict XVI.

This explains quite a bit, actually.

On April 8, on relatively short notice, the China Philharmonic Orchestra performed Motzart’s Requiem with the Shanghai Opera Chorus … in Shanghai’s St. Ignatius Cathedral. So far as anybody knows, this was the first instance that a philharmonic had ever performed at the cathedral. But as significant as that event was, it didn’t seem to justify the presence of Shanghai’s Mayor Han Zheng, Ye Xiaowen (director of China’s powerful Religious Affairs Bureau), and the film director Feng Xiaogang (along with several other government and film luminaries).

As it happens, I received a last-minute invite to this event - and blogged about it here. Access and security were tightly controlled (foreign AND Chinese media were prohibited) and so I was unable to take pictures of the performance itself. But afterwards, I shimmied to the front of the church and snapped this image of the post-show breakdown.

I have no idea as to whether there is any diplomatic significance to this performance. The fact that it was attended by a high-ranking religious affairs official suggests that there might be. But again, that’s speculation, and I would really caution my colleagues in the media to refrain from reading too much into this. We’ll just have to see.

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By the way - ten bucks says “Jasmine Flowers” is the encore on May 7.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the former French Prime Minister now in Beijing to offer apologies and reassurances over the unpleasant reception afforded the Olympic torch during its relay through Paris, has pioneered an interesting new rapprochement. According to an approving report in the China Daily, Raffarin had this to say:

“No one! Even those from the minorities have the right to dally with the Sino-French friendship,” Raffarin told a briefing when asked what message he would send back to the Elysee Palace.

Overlooking for now the fact that most of the people dallying with the Parisian torch relay were French, not minorities, just what on Earth is Raffarin saying here? China Daily, in the story lede, interprets the statement as:

Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said on Saturday he would tell his president that no minority should be allowed to impair the relationship between China and France.

If that is, in fact, what Raffarin means, it is a radical back-peddle from French President Sarkozy’s very public statements of concern about the Tibetan situation, and his willingness to boycott the Olympic opening ceremonies over this minority - er, Tibetan situation. (more…)

[Get out your calculators]

How is it possible that all five of the major US airlines were unprofitable last quarter - while Air China managed to see its profits climb 147%, to RMB 1.04 billion (US$149 million)?

There were undoubtedly a range of factors at play, but the one that I’d like to touch on - because it highlights other issues - is the price impact of China’s subsidized jet fuel. (more…)

I’m in the middle of some difficult revisions, so posting has been a little light over the last few days. That, and it’s Spring. To prove the point, a photo of the morning poker game going on - right now! - around the corner.

Real blogging content back Monday.

[Soundtrack: Sweet Seasons]

On Monday, under the innocuous headline, “Restricting Traffic,” the venerable Shanghai Daily quietly informed the city’s residents that:

From 5am-5pm on April 30 and May 1, 4, and 24, cars are banned from the area inside Jiasong Highway, Shenzhuan Highway, Qianxin Highway and Sichen Highway. The roads themselves are not affected by the ban. Only cars with special permits will be allowed into the area during the road restrictions.

No explanation is given, so allow me.

In 1874, Pope Pius IX declared a full amnesty to any Catholic who made the pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine at Sheshan during the month of May. Ever since, Sheshan has been the site of a month-long May pilgrimage that typically attracts tens of thousands of Catholics from throughout China. Generally, over the last two decades, the authorities have allowed the pilgrimage to proceed with few restrictions (in 2003 it was canceled due to SARS) Below, a photo of the May 1, 2004 mass (by my old pal Yuko Sato).

In June of last year, Pope Benedict released his long-awaited letter to China’s Catholics, in which he declared May 24 a day of prayer for the Church in China, dedicated to “Our Lady of Sheshan.” Since then, there has been much anticipation of this event - both within and without China - as it signals (in my opinion) the most explicit statement of unity with Chinese Catholics to come from Rome in decades.

Back to the Shanghai Daily article.

The restrictions outlined for April 30, May 1, May 4, and May 24 will effectively shut down motorized vehicle traffic into the Sheshan area for several square kilometers.

[Addendum 4/25: A good map of the geography can be found here. Sheshan is in the lower left corner. Thanks to Sean for the link.] (more…)

There’s so much good cheer in China these last few days, I managed to totally overlook the fact that today - April 22 - is Earth Day. So, in the spirit of trying to find something positive to say in an increasingly poisonous environment (let me count the ways), I will - as Earth Day ticks away in Shanghai - post some good environmental news related to China.

Namely, the vibrating water table.

And no, I’m not talking about the evening entertainment at the last Chinese scrap processor’s convention (that’s for the memoir). I’m talking about one of these:

Now pay careful attention. In the background, you’ll note a large pile of very fine insulated copper wires. Because of their size, these are too small to strip by hand or mechanically (though I’ve seen it done). So, until roughly five years ago, Chinese scrap yards would recover the copper by setting fire to the wires, thus releasing all kinds of toxins into the air.

Enter the vibrating water table.

Above the table, you’ll note a metal device painted green. That’s a granulator, and its job is to chop the wire into pieces so small that the copper basically falls out of the plastic. Next, the reduced, separated pieces are dumped onto a vibrating table washed with a light flow of water. As they move - slowly - down the table, guided by grooves and the magic of specific gravities, the plastic pieces separate from the copper ones, eventually rolling into two recovery bins. (more…)

The other night I had dinner at the Dongbei Ren on Shanxi Road, and while there I happened to notice this waitress stop at the mirror on her way back to the kitchen. I also happened to have a camera with me.

As she stood there, preening before the customers, her supervisor walked by and - without missing a beat - snapped, “Don’t be stuck up.”

[In other news: I'm tied up with my "other" writing job today ... back tomorrow with deeper thoughts.]

Back in December I was asked to write a short dispatch on Chinese religious belief for the just-released, all-China May issue of National Geographic. This is well-trod territory: even China Daily is willing to acknowledge the significant growth in Chinese religious believers over the last few years. But if the growth is acknowledged, the reasons for that growth are either left unexplored, or ascribed to materialist causes and left at that.

I’ve always felt that the situation is far more complex, and so - despite limited space - I decided to touch on the subject. To do it, I contacted Aloysius Jin Luxian, the 92-year-old Catholic bishop of Shanghai, and indisputably among the most learned religious leaders in China today (see my 2007 profile of Jin, here). Unfortunately, limited space prevented me from printing more than a brief sentence of Jin’s answer to the why question in National Geographic. But now that the dispatch has been published in the magazine (but not online), I can publish Jin’s complete answer on this blog. It is, readers will note, a distinctly Chinese perspective on this very important phenomenon, and one rarely - if ever - heard in the Western media. It is also quite relevant to current events:

Q. In your opinion, what accounts for the stunning growth in Chinese religious belief over the last three decades?

A. What is foremost certain is that, in China, more and more people have religious belief, and those numbers include Communist party members, even though the communist party clearly stipulates that no Communist Party member is allowed religious belief, otherwise he must withdraw from the party.

There are many and varied reasons.

The Chinese people were originally of religious belief, but under the time of Mao were suppressed. So, after reform and liberalization there began a rebound, and the more the suppression, the greater the rebound. (more…)

I’m just back from an interesting couple of days in Wuxi, and I promise to resume substantive blogging over the weekend. In the meantime, though, a photo of a building that Wuxi’s locals (especially local government officials) like to call the “White House.” They also like to ask visiting Americans (at least, this visiting American) whether they agree that it looks like the White House.

In the foreground is one of the several fish farms that cover dozens of (undeveloped) acres behind the White House. It is unlikely to remain for long, though. The White House is the heart of a high-tech development zone (it houses software firms, not government officials), and just next door is a CD-manufacturing facility.

[UPDATE: Yes, I'm aware it resembles the US Capitol building more than the White House. And, yes, I tried to explain that.]

[UPDATE 4/24: Danwei's Front Page of the Day has an interesting post on another Chinese "White House" that looks like the US Capitol. In comment #8, below, Wang explains: "I was a little bit intrigued until I realized that in China, the executive branch is everything, and the legislative body, the People’s Congress, is all but a decoration. And Chinese people know this. No one, I think, will admit that their latest and greatest development project looks like the American version of the Chinese rubber stamp, which is much, much less impressive." Take a look at the full comment below.]

I’m going to be traveling for the next couple of days, and unlikely to post again before the end of the week. So, in parting, allow me to leave you with a curiosity.

Recently I’ve found that Shanghai’s pirate CD industry is beginning to favor boxes made from fiberboard laminated with a fine wood grain finish. As a child of the Seventies, this awakens something primal in me, so I’m not complaining. But it does seem curious. For example, this CD below.

Just to be clear: the “dust jacket” is behind the paneled box. My question is this: in Pirate Land, is it suddenly cheaper to source CD boxes glued together from wall panel fragments than it is to purchase plastic boxes? And if so, could this be one more sign that oil prices are starting to impact Chinese manufacturers and retailers?

After the jump, a close-up of the surprisingly fine workmanship than went into the CD packaging. (more…)

Today we learn that a “Chinese entity” has purchased a roughly 1% equity stake in BP (worth US$2 billion) in BP, one of the world’s largest energy companies (concentrated in oil, of course). On one hand, this isn’t much of a surprise: last September, China launched a US$200 billion investment fund (CIC) in hope of achieving higher returns on its massive foreign currency reserves than the low-rates that it is earning on relatively safe US Treasuries and other low-risk investments.

But the thing is, CIC isn’t the Chinese government entity that purchased the BP stake.

Instead, according to the AP, Dow Jones and other reports, the purchaser of the stake is the State Administration of Foreign Exchange [SAFE] - the people in charge of those famed $1.68 trillion in foreign currency reserves. And that is big news, indeed.

Three quick observations on this odd, interesting, and unexpected new government investor. (more…)

Yesterday Reuters - citing Chinese state media - reported that Chinese police seized thirty firearms from a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, late last month: