Shanghai Scrap

[With apologies to Rene Magritte.]

Not the sexiest topic in the world, but certainly important: on Wednesday, the US Department of Commerce into whether or not to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of steel pipes from China. This follows upon the mostly symbolic mid-September imposition of duties on Chinese tire imports, and recent EU duties against the same products.

For reasons that I won’t go into right now, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in factories that manufacture the sort of pipe in question here, and I’m personally acquainted with some of the factory owners. Though I’ve no interest in excusing the alleged dumping in question here, I think I can offer some limited perspective on why – in fact – the situation is more complex than the one suggested by the aggressive proponents of imposing new duties. In truth, I don’t expect I’m going to hold many of my casual readers with a discussion of seamless pipe dumping, but I do think that – if you’re interested in how greed and a total mis-comprehension/mis-trust of motives can contribute to trade disputes – this is as good an example as any.

Above, an image of a seamless pipe factory in Qinghuangdao, taken two years ago.

Seamless steel pipe is just what it sounds like: a pipe with no seams suitable for use as a conveyance for high-pressure fluids such as oil and natural gas. To the casual observer, a pipe is a steel pipe; but if you drill for oil, say, you’re going to want every assurance that your pipe is manufactured to certain industry-mandated standards (for example, so that the pipe can handle the threads that may be cut into it at a later date). (more…)

While the rest of Shanghai’s media and blogs have been concerned with ethnic uprisings, military parades, and trade wars, Shanghai Scrap has maintained an unwavering focus on the ongoing renovation of his building’s exterior in advance of Expo 2010. As many others have noted, Shanghai is spending an inordinate amount of money to clean-up the city’s thoroughfares and buildings in order to impress the expected flood of Expo 2010 visitors from home and abroad. No doubt, Shanghai Scrap has benefited from the upgrade: as mentioned last week, Shanghai Scrap Tower 1 has been transformed, from a soot-streaked, brown brick  brutalist archetype of sorts, into a happy pastel South Beach symphony – of sorts. But the question remains: who are the workers who have come to Shanghai to do this work?

This afternoon, like most afternoons, an answer appeared dangling by a thick rope outside my window. For the purposes of this post, we’ll call him Mr. Q, and when we met, he was busy painting windows frames that he’d primed earlier in the week.  When I asked if I could take his picture, Mr. Q agreed, so long as the image didn’t capture his face.

Scrap: How old are you?

Mr. Q: Twenty-four.

Scrap: Where are you from?

Mr. Q: Anhui Province. [ed. note: a relatively poor province directly west of Shanghai, and source of many of the city's migrant laborers.]

Scrap: When did you move to Shanghai?

Mr. Q: I first came when I was sixteen. I’ve come back many times. (more…)

Due to unexpected but very welcome events in Minneapolis, Shanghai Scrap has baseball on his mind, and thus – while running errands earlier in the day – I was stopped in my tracks by the Major League Baseball stall at a busy shopping mall in Xujiahui. It’s not your average American MLB shop, that’s for sure. Rather than selling authentic jerseys and caps (admittedly, all available across town at the various fake markets), the Xujiahui MLB shop mostly sells women’s MLB apparel, and tarted-up caps (not a regulation cap to be found). Here and there, I found a few items for that male baseball fan in your life, but otherwise, so far as I could tell, the Xujiahui MLB shop is marketing to fashion-conscious young Chinese women (they constituted the majority of the customers and all of the employees). Which is fine by me, frankly. But it does strike me as an unusual approach to this totally undeveloped market, so early in the game (assuming that MLB had something to do with this shop). I’d expect a more ecumenical approach, if you will.

FYI: Despite a surplus of merchandise from failed Chicago franchises and other losers, I could not locate any merchandise bearing the name and logo of the current American League Central champs.

[To non-IOC members who also haven't heard of her, here's a wiki to help you along]

An official, non-China-related Shanghai Scrap tirade:

I’ve traveled widely – perhaps, not as widely as some of my colleagues – but widely enough to know a few things. First, never exchange money at an airport; two, always pack single cup packets of instant coffee; and three, nobody outside of the United States has ever heard of Oprah Winfrey.

It’s this latter lesson that I’d like to discuss, briefly, as a result of the fact that many (US) commentators are shocked that the International Olympic Committee [IOC] had the nerve to snub her and – by the way, the Obamas – in turning down Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics (full disclosure: I love Chicago). The AP, for example, raised a headline announcing that “Chicago, Obama, and Oprah lose in powerful Olympic bid.” And the otherwise sober-minded Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN writes: “The two Obamas. Oprah. David Robinson. Daley. That’s a pretty impressive starting five for schmoozing.”

Yes, it is Gene … if you’re schmoozing a group of US Olympic Committee members in hopes of landing the 2016 USOC trials. (more…)

Earlier this week I blogged about the now-notorious mid-September auctions in Chinese antiques that took place at Christie’s in New York. As described by Souren Melikian in the New York Times, the event was a speculative frenzy, with even middling-to-poor antiques bid up many times their conservative estimates. In my post, I compared the Christie’s auction with a more down-at-the-heels art auction that I’d experienced several times at a Cantonese restaurant in Shanghai’s Putuo District. In both cases, I suggested, outright speculation and illicit bids from dealers and other interested parties might have accounted for the unexpected price runs. The subsequent comment section discussion is worth a read if you’re interested in the subject (and/or like to see me taken to task for engaging in my own sorts of speculation).

A few days later I received an email in regard to the auctions from William Hanbury-Tenison, a fine art agent with a significant background in Asian art (and someone with whom I am friendly). In it he takes exception with the suggestion that the auctions represent any kind of broader trend, pointing out that – even though prices reached unexpected levels – the $24 million worth of antiques sold at the auctions represents “a tiny fraction of the annual turnover in Chinese art in China itself.” He goes on to present several reasons why, in his opinion, the price of Chinese antiques has been on the upswing. With his permission, below, I excerpt his provocative and convincing take on the matter:

Why then have prices for Chinese antiques, particularly at auction, remained bouyant if not apparently speculative? (more…)

Due to a September 2008 blog post complaining that ESPN (in Asia, at least) broadcast a dog show instead of a Vikings-Packers Monday Night game, Shanghai Scrap appears to have become a top google result for the not insignificant number of NFL fans performing searches for things like “Monday Night Football Shanghai” and “Where Vikings Packers in Shanghai” in advance of this week’s highly anticipated showdown.

As a public service to the sizable number of NFL fans in China who wish to watch Hall of Fame Vikings QB Brett Favre defeat the Green Bay Packers, and who don’t have an illegal Filipino satellite dish at home to help them do it, I present the surprising results of my public-spirited investigation into the options.

Now, it may well be the case that expat-oriented bars and restaurants will open early for the most anticipated regular season Monday Night/Tuesday Morning Football game in history (8:30 AM, Tuesday, China time). If that’s your preferred option, call around. But if, like me, you’d prefer to avoid spending your morning with inebriated members of Packer – ahem – Nation, who think nothing of downing a pack of Chinese “hot dogs” and a bucket of Reeb before the breakfast kickoff, then I’ve got an option for you: Sina.com.

No idea why, but the NFL has agreed to allow Sina stream the Vikings-Packers game (nay, every Monday Night game) live and for free (take that, NFL Game Pass). To watch it, launch Internet Explorer (Firefox won’t work), click over to Sina’s NFL viewing window, and then click the window itself. You’ll be asked for permission to install Sina’s TV software; accept, wait for the installation to complete, and then – fast as you can – bone up on your Chinese football vocab (play-by-play is in Chinese). That’s it; you’re good to go.

As noted back in July, Shanghai’s US$45 billion makeover in advance of Expo 2010 has arrived at my apartment building (located on a prominent thoroughfare). Despite the inconvenience and noise, this was a needed renovation: my two building complex was built in the mid-90s, at a time when – apparently – highrises covered in dark brown bathroom tiles were all the rage (I’ve seen others). It’s a style that a friend calls “late period authoritarian tasteless,” and I’d be hard pressed to disagree. But anyway, the real question still loomed: what, with their deep pockets and suspect aesthetics, would the Shanghai authorities do to my building?

Well, I’ve been away from Shanghai for a while – long enough to miss out on most of the work – only returning late last night in a dark rain, when I couldn’t see a thing. By morning, I’d forgotten about the renovation – until I happened to glance out the window at an odd approximation of South Beach. On the left, “late period authoritarian tasteless”; and, on the right, “Shanghai South Beach.” Click for enlargements.

All in all, a stark change, and an improvement – though not the one that I was expecting. One concern: that the facelift was completed in advance of another rainy, sooty Shanghai winter guaranteed to run black streaks down a new pink facade.