Here’s a phenomenon that I’ve yet to see generate much comment: during Chinese holiday weekends (like this weekend, in which they are supposed to be celebrating the mid-Autumn Festival), the internet grinds to a near standstill in Shanghai. I suppose there are several explanations for this occasionally observed (by me and this other guy I…
All posts in Expat Life
Dreaming in Chinese
Over the years there have been some very fine books written about the experience of moving to China as a young foreigner, and the struggles encountered in trying to learn the language and culture. But I’ve long thought that an equally interesting experience – moving to China as an adult, post-30 foreigner, and struggling with…
Wait a second – the US Census doesn’t count Americans abroad?
How I missed this, I don’t know, but here’s the deal: if you’re an American living abroad, and you weren’t physically in the United States on April 1, then you will not be counted in the 2010 US census (in fact, you would’ve only been counted in the 1960 and 1970 censuses). Exceptions are made…
How is Expo 2010 changing Shanghai? One blogger’s perspective.
Just got off the phone with a reporter interested to know how the Expo (ie, World’s Fair) is changing Shanghai. No offense to this particular hack, but I’ve been having that conversation a whole lot recently, and it usually goes something like this: “Lots of new infrastructure, great new subways, but please stop demolishing all…
“Want some chocolate, handsome?”
On October 28 the Shanghai Daily ran what now stands as my favorite headline in the history of journalism: The headline isn’t the best part, though. That honor is reserved for the story itself, which goes something like this: last year, the five individuals in the above photo began working as prostitutes in Shanghai. One…
The colors are never so bright as when you lower your standards.
This afternoon, around 4:00 PM, I left a friend’s thirteenth floor apartment and paused to wait for the elevator. While I did, I gazed out the window and noticed a stunning, multicolored striped building in the near distance. Though incomplete, I think it’s an absolute stunner, and I took out a camera and snapped a…
Novel Hazards Associated With Chinese Stairwells (and living here)
By popular demand (you know who you are), promoted from twitpic to the blog: [Clarification, also by popular demand: the sign hangs in a stairwell] For the record, this fulfills Shanghai Scrap’s official allotment of exactly ONE Chinglish-related post per Blog Year. An allotment established because, really, nobody at Shanghai Scrap HQ has any business…
East Seward Road Elegy: Shanghai’s War Against Its Architectural Heritage
[UPDATE 10/19 – Paul French of the excellent China Rhyming blog just posted some heartbreaking history and images of the White Horse Inn, on the former Ward Road, which was taken down during the recent Hongkou demolitions. ] [UPDATE 10/22 – Leading the pack on Hongkou-related news, Paul French just posted a very fine item…
New lows in expat advertising: no ugly ladies in the sud de France.
Of the many journalistic beats that Shanghai Scrap really wishes it could cover more fully, none is more tantalizing than the sometimes – nay, often – ridiculous state of expat-oriented advertising in China. It’s a marvelous arena, both in its own right, but also for the insights that it offers into how poorly Chinese companies…
My gift to anxious NFL fans in China
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…