- Fountain Bar Xintiandi
Xintiandi is a small area within the Old French Concession which has been rebuilt and which now contains a wide range of western style bars and is particularly popular with Westerners. We went to investigate the other day and what struck me more than anything else was the money in those streets; this is not western money, but Chinese money.
- Rolls Royce Xintiandi
- Ferrari Xintiandi
- White Lambo Xintiandi
- Yellow Lambo flooring it at the lights Xintiandi
- Four on a Scooter
This was exemplified by the cars we saw in that area over what was a relatively small length of time. A Rolls Royce, a Ferrari and two Lambourghinis (or Lambos) shared the streets with a pink London taxi and a motorbike with a happy family of four aboard. The apparent wealth living alongside those with scarce resources in the streets of old Shanghai and other parts of the city and the litter pickers who make their living recycling the rubbish of the much better off of course make us question this society run by a Communist Party but with some very obvious capitalist elements. Where is this city and this country going to and where are they going to end up?
The Chinese education system involves much rote learning and which one might think to be stultifying dull for those who are bright. I saw a recent BBC report from a city school where they introduced a class to the idea of problem solving: how can you drop an egg from a first story building and save it from being broken armed with just a piece of paper and some sellotape? They enjoyed the break in their studies, but returned after an hour to the masses of stuff they had to learn. I know Rozy was dulled beyond distraction with the rote learning of Mandarin during her year in Beijing. Being able to recite one passage perfectly was not, in her book, teaching her the language. If this is typical it must create a people who learn a way of doing things, THE way of doing things, and the facts that they are fed, who may find it difficult to think for themselves. Those few that, despite all this, are able to think outside the box and to do things differently from the norm, either through their character or by having a western education, have been able to make a killing, since the reforms brought in by Deng Xiaoping, according to an old China Hand we met.
- Individual taste
- Red must be the thing
Where this takes China in the long run, I'm not sure. But it is interesting to watch the alternative nonconformist people out on the streets doing their thing, a bit like the punks of the 1970s in the UK; others just want to conform.
- Skyscraper Xintiandi
- More skyscrapers Xintiandi
- Skyscrapers Xintiandi
Around Shanghai there are skyscrapers after skyscrapers some for living, some offices, some for shops but generally a mixture of these, of all different designs and hues. There is much talk in the UK press about the need for China to turn its economy from infrastructure building to a more consumer focused one, where the Chinese are encouraged to spend. But Shanghai is full of mega shopping mall after shopping mall. There are so many opportunities here to spend vast amounts of money on stuff, some of it very expensive imported stuff from the West. But if you and your family live in a two bedroom apartment how much stuff can you buy?
I could walk around for hours taking photographs of modern shops selling everything you can get in the west. Some have interesting architecture or interesting features and are worth walking around to look at the human ingenuity that has gone into making them different. I am interested in things I haven't seen before, but generally I'm not interested in acquiring stuff. I'm more interested in decluttering, and living a life out of 3 suitcases and 4 tips to IKEA or Carrefour this year is an interesting and enlightening experience. Having no car and living 5 minutes from a variety of good shops means we have much less food in our cupboards, fridge and freezers(!) than we do back home.
The rich here are buying their expensive cars and watches. The upper middle class have their Chelsea tractors and their designer gear. But are the vast majority of Chinese, your ordinary man on the Chinese equivalent of the Clapham omnibus feeling wealthy enough to spend? I'm not sure that trickle down in the UK and US works, whatever our governments may say. There is only so much money a wealthy person can spend. The rest must be invested, saved, or handed to the next generation.
In China the government is managing the growth of their economy carefully and in tiered stages. Someone has described it as a bird in a nest slowly flapping its wings as it readies itself to fly. Here in Shanghai we are living in a Tier 1 city, only one of 4 in the country. These have been designated Tier 1 cities due to their size, coastal location and political standing. It was in these cities that carefully managed foreign investment was allowed in the 1980s. Foreign investment is still carefully controlled. It is showcasing to the world what China is capable of doing and Shanghai like Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou have improved living standards by developing their own economic drivers within the economic area. There are between 20 and 30 Tier 2 cities which are slowly following in the Tier 1 city footsteps and similarly the 600 Tier 3 or lower are following on behind.
The hourly minimum wage varies across the country depending which economic region you are operating in, but the government has decided that wages for everyone must double within the next five years. That's an interesting scenario for people managing companies in China and will have an interesting effect on domestic consumption. As the wages rise more in China will have access to the goodies of the higher tiered cities. But when do Shanghai and other Tier 1 cities reach their zenith? Will it be the pollution that ultimately calls the shots, or the numbers of people that are physically capable of living here?
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