Shanghai Scrap

I’m in London at the moment, far away from all things Asian, especially the ongoing and increasingly violent anti-government protests in Thailand (now including efforts to shut down Thailand’s air and rail links). But that was not the case in June, when I was in Bangkok for ten days and made several visits to the protest site. I don’t pretend to know or understand all of the the factors that are inspiring the unrest in Thailand. But I do recall that in June the situation was peaceful, with a bit of a carnival atmosphere, even. Apparently, patience – on both sides – has worn thin.

In any event, over the last couple of days I’ve had a big visitation spike to my one and only Bangkok protest post, which included a dozen images taken in early June. Find it here.

Regular blogging will resume next week. Alas, it won’t include my long-planned “Pawlenty in China” post, complete with photos of the governor enjoying the hospitality of the Minnesota Club of Shanghai.

[Repeat: Idle until 2 September.]

For years, I’ve been saying that there’s no escaping the Olympics in China, and now – in a cosmic joke of sorts – I’m the living proof: twelve hours after the closing ceremonies, I’m getting ready to board a flight to London. My business is not Olympics-related, but rather a speaking engagement at the Royal Geographic Society, where I’ll be discussing the Globalization of the Asian Waste/Scrap Trade. So, if you’re in London on August 27, and wanting to see slides of giant trash piles – you’ll know where to find them.

A couple of parting items. I planned on writing some kind of Olympic wrap-up, but I’m either lacking inspiration or just tired of writing about the Olympics (which I enjoyed!). Maybe both. In either case, my one and only observation is this: the Olympics are long. Especially when you’re covering them. The third week is really a grind. Anyway, I haven’t done a very good job of posting links to my Olympics-related writing, and it seems too late to do it now. But for posterity’s sake, and if you’re already feeling nostalgic, I’m most pleased with my dispatches for the Atlantic, which covered the co-host cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Qingdao.

And that’s that. It’s possible that I’ll post something related to my RGS speech, and I’ll definitely post any news about whether or not the Vancouver Sun decides to do something about the ethics/religion columnist who stole my photo. But most likely, this blog is idle until September 2.

As always, consider fulfilling your China blog cravings by visiting the superb sites featured in the blogroll to the right. Good writers, all.

Early this morning I was awakened by some pretty spectacular thunder claps (effects of Typhoon Nuri, I learn). Then, I fell back asleep, lulled by a really nice sounding, steady rain. Little did I expect to find the streets of Shanghai (well, my streets) flooded when I made my way out of my building at 8:30 AM. Here’s the scene:

For those who don’t know Shanghai – the intersection of Hengshan, Gao An, and Yongjia roads is one of the busiest in downtown – especially during rush hour. I really don’t want to think about the kind of ricochet effect this is having on traffic throughout the city.

[UPDATE: Shanghai Daily reports that this storm was the largest one-hour rainfall to hit Shanghai in at least 130 years.]

Frankly, after getting drenched in the swirling downpour that followed Thursday’s Olympic sailing in Qingdao, I declared my Olympics to be officially over (still drying out). No more deadlines, no more tickets. I’ll likely have something to say as a wrap-up in the next few days, but otherwise, I’m moving on. And moving onto a favorite topic, at that. Over the last three years I’ve written several articles on the important and ongoing restoration of the stained glass windows in Shanghai’s St. Ignatius Cathedral (an extended treatment, here; the last few paragraphs, here). The originals were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution; the new ones are being designed by Wo Ye, a Beijing-born artist trained in traditional Chinese painting, and at the Vatican’s liturgical art school in Milan. In designing them, Wo Ye is purposely using Chinese motifs and designs in pursuit of a distinctly Chinese version of this most Western of arts. The project is roughly 20% complete, and this afternoon I was given the distinct privilege of seeing what will account for the next 15%. A few images …

For those not familiar with Chinese painting – and watercolor, in particular – this lily (and those flowers which will accompany it) is almost certainly the first expression of that ancient tradition in stained glass. I’ve tried to express before, and will again, that this is not only an important piece of ongoing liturgical art, but an important ongoing project in Chinese art, period. Anyway, the panel measures roughly 1 meter x .3 meter, and will be installed in a frame 20 meters above the cathedral floor, where it will become a part of a series of windows that depict a garden of paradise, with Chinese characteristics (bamboo, lilies, magnolias). More images after the jump … (more…)

[FINAL UPDATE ouglas Todd, the Vancouver Sun, and its owners - Canwest - have so far refused to answer my demands for payment. No surprise, and so be it. For now, I think it's worth noting that Douglas Todd's blog continues to post uncredited photos. That is to say - he continues to steal intellectual property from other writers and photographers, apparently with the full consent and support of Canwest and the Vancouver Sun. I guess I wouldn't mind so much if he was something other than a so-called ethics columnist. So what's he thinking? What the Sun thinking? Well, whatever. A more litigious update to be published later this year.] (more…)

So ends the Olympic sailing competition … and my Atlantic dispatches from the Olympic co-host cities. The last of them, “Of Beer, Algae, and Sailing,” posted from Qingdao, is now up on the Atlantic’s site. Among other challenges, this proved to be the wettest to report.

Just back from a rainy and windy day out of at the Olympic Sailing Center, topped off by a 3 mile walk back to my hotel because – dear me – there were no taxis to be hired in downtown Qingdao (during a rush-hour rainstorm that coincided with the end of Olympic events). I will never be dry, and it’ll be a miracle if I’m not feverish by daybreak. But, despite the drawbacks, a great day and a great event. Below, a photo of the Spanish team as they cheer on their newly victorious gold medalists in the Mixed Tornado – Multihull race (and no, I’m not going to pretend that I know what that means).

On deadline, back with more sailing observations in the morning.

Yesterday, due to airline-related issues, I arrived at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center just in time for … the sunset. Problems aside, it’s a gorgeous facility that – I’m told – will be opened up to the people of Qingdao after the games. I’ll have the chance to view today’s competition and medal ceremonies, and I’ll post images later tonight.

After the jump, the final images in my continuing series (first installments can be found here and here) on China’s Olympic food concessions: (more…)

[File Under: What You Missed During the Olympics]

Whatever else it may have buoyed, these Olympics have done nothing for China’s ailing stocks markets. On Monday, while most of China was busy being shocked by Liu Xiang’s dramatic pull-back, the nation’s investors were selling, as the Shanghai Composite drop another 5.89% to a nineteen month low. According to Xinhua, the drop was mostly attributable to 18.9 million shares suddenly becoming available for trading (the largest single-week float on the Shanghai Composite ever?). And, in a startling display of poor confidence – most of those shares are, apparently, being sold.

On the bright side (the take your medicine side), multiple news outlets report that the sell-off was partly prompted by strong central government signals that it wasn’t going to do anything more to buoy the decline. Perhaps, with the Olympics nearly over, somebody in Beijing has finally stopped worrying that share price declines might lead to social unrest, and decided to let the proverbial market chips finally fall where they may.

In either case, three quick observations. First, for all of the feelings of national pride abounding in China right now, it’s interesting – and heartening – to see that hard business sense continues to prevail. The markets stink, no matter how many medals China wins. Second, this shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone who talks to Shanghai’s merchant class: nobody’s doing deals right now, especially in the real estate sector. And third, anybody predicting a post-Olympics slow-down needs to re-assess: there’s a slow-down all right, but it has everything to do with the greater Chinese economy, and nothing to do with the wrap-up of Beijing’s giant construction project.

Off to Qingdao in a few minutes – will post sailing competition photos later tonight.

I interrupt this Olympics to recommend that you go and visit the China Business Blog and Podcast right now. It’s run by my friend, Kent Kedl who – in China, at least – has developed a certain level of fame on the basis of his year-long stint as the back page columnist at That’s Shanghai (among his friends he’s known as the second coming of Tony Iommi and, oh, a very well-respected consultant). That That’s stint, as he details in a fascinating, highly recommended post, came to an abrupt end recently:

The censors – the State-owned entity that controlled the publishing license – were on his case to talk to me. When that did not happen, they insisted that he set up a meeting between them and me. Ian held off as long as he could. “Sorry, lad, but would you mind meeting with these chaps? They’re on my arse about it.”

I said, “no problem” and was actually looking forward to it. It is not everyone that gets hauled in to the Great Principal Publisher’s office. I thought that, at least it would make great content for a new article! (more…)

I think that I’ve blogged quite enough about Shanghai’s Olympic soccer matches, so – barring something really interesting happening at tomorrow’s men’s semi – this will be the last. And we’re going out with a bang. Here’s the background:

Last year, Germany blanked the far more entertaining Brazilians, 2-0, in the Women’s World Cup final. I watched that match, and if memory serves me correctly, the bigger Germans won it through brute physical force, supplemented by pushes, shoves, and trips. All in all, that’s pretty much the strategy they came out of the tunnel with tonight. But, bless the Brazilian women, they weren’t going to be bullied this time, and at the 53rd minute, they closed the book with a 3-1 lead. That could have been it. But then, at minute 76, forward Cristiane, perhaps angered by the continuing, needlessly physical play of the Germans, burst through the line and laid the ball into the net for 4-1. And that, too, could have been it.

But no. In heady celebration, the triumphant forward lifted her arms above her head and began gyrating her hips oh-so-slowly, in a manner that one (well, me) doesn’t normally expect to see on a soccer pitch (unless that pitch is hosting a Christina Aguilera show). Anyway, as Cristiane did her slow shimmy, an anonymous camera operator slowly panned down, down, down, the length of her body – and someone in the control booth chose to broadcast the footage to the entire stadium (an act arguably more saucy than Cristiane’s dance). But don’t take my word for it. Trust the camera:

For those few fans in attendance who missed it the first time, the stadium TV crew did us all the favor of repeating the video when action resumed just a few minutes later (the above photos were taken during the encore performance). I half expect to find it for sale in the pirate DVD shop below my building after the Olympics are over.

Oh, and all the white jerseys below the screen? Those are the white school uniforms of the kids bused into watch the game. My favorite Olympic moment – so far.

Anyway, I’m tied down with multiple deadlines for the next couple of days, so I likely won’t be posting again before Wednesday. But! Tune in then for a blogged report from Qingdao’s Olympic sailing competition.

Recently, lots of blogging and reporting about the empty seats at events up in Beijing. Well, down here in Shanghai we like to do things bigger – or, more empty, if you will. Case in point: A photo taken three minutes into this evening’s women’s soccer semi-final between Brazil and Germany.

Just to be clear: this was an Olympic semi-final, with the winner being guaranteed at least a silver medal, between the two finalists from the 2007 Women’s World Cup (held in China), both of whom hold a clear and evident disdain for the other. Oh, and the best female soccer player in the world, Marta, was guaranteed to be on the field. Yeah, who’d want to show up for that?

But it gets worse. I’d guess that 40% – 50% of the spectators were actually Shanghai schoolkids bused to the match and given free tickets. So, take another look at the photo, and then subtract.

No way to excuse this as an instance where sponsors, officials, and media didn’t bother to show up for their seats. This was, all in all, a failure to sell tickets. And it gets back to a point that I’ve made here ond here: that, if you take away Argentina‘s celebrity soccer gods, folks in Shanghai really can’t be bothered with this Olympics business. Even though, sheesh – it was a semi, for goodness sake.

[Addendum: Shanghai Stadium reportedly has 55,000 seats. Reportedly, because I've seen reliable sources claim 52,000, 53,000, and 80,000. The last, I'm guessing, is concert-seating.]

For foreign visitors not intimately familiar with the modern history of Chinese soccer fandom, the unabashed enthusiasm (not to mention face paint, hats, jerseys, and flags) that the local fans have shown for Argentina’s national team during the last week of Olympic group play at Shanghai Stadium has been nothing short of surreal. Argentina, by a wide distance, has enjoyed home-field advantage here.

But, you may be asking yourself, why such Chinese enthusiasm for Argentina? Actually, the answer is pretty straightfoward. Just go ask any Chinese soccer fan over the age of thirty, and you’ll get some variation on this: the 1986 World Cup was the first to be widely televised in China, Argentina – behind the amazing, transcendant play of Diego Maradona – won it, and there’s been a deep Chinese reservoir of support for the team – and Maradona – ever since (I touched on this phenomenon in an Atlantic dispatch last week).

Anyway, last night Argentina defeated the Netherlands in a thrilling, extra time quarter-final match at Shanghai Stadium. But as fine as the match was, the true high-point of the evening was the unexpected appearance of one Diego Maradona in a stadium VIP box. His face was flashed on the screen, and the reaction was a slow build, from a buzz (as people elbowed each other to look up at the screen) to a full-throttled roar of joy. I was seated above the VIP box (still awaiting that invite…), so visitors to this blog will have to do with a photo of the Jumbotron’s image of FIFA’s co-Player of the Century acknowledging the crowd’s support of his national team. A great moment, twenty-two years in the making, and needless to say: Jia you!

Regular readers of this blog know that earlier this week I spent a couple of days in Hong Kong at the Olympic equestrian events. The Atlantic has just posted my dispatch from that trip, “All Bets Are Off,” along with a few photos.

And for those of you feeling Olympic fatigue, but still in need of thoughtful China blogging, I recommend Joel Martinsen’s fasinating post on the translation and reception of a key “grey book” over at Danwei.