The biggest change is online payment everywhere. Every establishment expects online payment as the first option. I see it just as another form of government control, since there are only two: Alipay and WeChat Pay. Plus, all the major websites require logins just to surf; logins that require cellphone verification; however, government IDs are required to buy a cellphone number. Arg! Not to mention, that all Google, minus Google Translate, are blocked along with Wikipedia, NY Times; all interesting sites are blocked; booking.com is not blocked, but map view only shows pins without the underlining map which comes from Google. This is the most 1984-esque I have ever felt.
Although people do a great deal of shopping/buying/ordering online, there are still more retail stores than I expected. There are even more food and beverage outlets, except for alcohol, compared to the west, and sometimes it seems that food takeout delivery scooters have taken over the roads and sidewalks. When we lived in Shanghai only expats used food deliver services. On the other hand, eating at restaurants has become more egalitarian. At an average restaurant, you start by scanning in your table's QR code, picking out menu items from photoed online menus, and finally paying online. The staff does bring you the food. Every commercial place seems to have lots of business, though a relative who works in advertising foresees upcoming hard times. Could this be the designed effects of the Trump Tariff?
For some time now, I have been joking how John and I are the lowest net worth family in my extended family, because of real estate prices. This time with my brother and sisters' families, the 10 of us stayed at this airbnb. It is over 3000 square feet, but nothing extravagant. When we walked by a real estate office, I was shocked to find the unit would sell for 5 million US dollars. Now I suspect everyone must regard us as the poor relation.
The only change that I was happy to see is the greatly expanded Shanghai Metro; that is, by 300-400 percent since we left 11 years ago. Overall the Metro seems to be a very well managed operation, and took us all over the place!
The aftermath of a morning trip to Peet's Coffee on Donghu Rd where our group was toured and treated by Sun-Ling's brother-in-laws sister who is the CEO of Peet's China.
The view from Peet's offices: Looking towards The Bund with the former Russian Orthodox church at center.
We made a trip to the Shanghai Museum with some of our crew. Favs were the ancient bronzes and the temporary exhibit Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865–1945 featuring "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper.
Following the museum we made our usual pilgrimage to the East Nanjing Rd pedestrain street and The Bund (waterfront).
Sun-Ling's brother and family at The Bund.
Sun-Ling and I.
The next day we visited one of the newer "must sees" in Shanghai; the Shanghai Starbucks Reserve Roastery. Impressive! And much larger than shown in the photos below. This time we just did a quick walk through. Next time, coffee.
And a stroll through the nearby Sculpture Park.
Dinner that night with Sun-Ling's cousin. First order of business is to scan the QR code on the corner of your table.
In our visits to Shanghai over the years, we've managed to see many of the Shanghai Biennale's. On now is "Proregress: The 12th Shanghai Biennale" which we visited with Sun-Ling's cousin.
The Biennale is held at the Power Station of Art which has great view from it's 4th floor terrace.
After leaving the airbnb, we slept at Sun-Ling's cousin's apartment for 2 nights. It's close to the old Art Deco Paramount Ballroom.
2 comments:
I didn’t expect to see Peet’s coffee in China. That is our fave. Cool family connection.
Also, the apartment looks very ‘hip’ based on the picture s. Of course I couldn’t read the description since it was not in English.
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