September, 2009

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My Shanghai Commute

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Looking over what I’ve been writing in this blog lately I’ve noticed I’ve posted very little about my day to day life here in Shanghai and I’ve posted almost no pictures.  In my defense, my days are an uninteresting mixture of work, which I dare not go into deeply here, and going home tired after the sun has already set to cook dinner.  There’s more to my life here and I’m sure I’ll get around to that stuff, but nothing feels very urgent.

One part of my life here in Shanghai that I always find interesting and that I’d like to share with all you handsome readers is my daily commute.  It is in fact my first full-fledged commute for my first downtown office job (Hooray for stepping stones to mediocre lifestyles!).  My last job as a high school teacher in western Hunan had very little in the way of a commute, that is unless you consider rolling out of bed and taking a 5 minute walk through the school campus a commute.  My Shanghai commute is also worlds away from my daily commute in Thailand, though I try not to dwell on that.  And back in America, I was either walking to class or driving to my various jobs and neither have nearly the same amount of energy and excitement that a Shanghai commute contains.  Back in August I touched on the Shanghai subway and what I said then has held true everyday since: the Shanghai subway is a crazy and crowded way to get to work.

Interestingly, since I work all day and usually stay at home once I get back my daily commute is often the bulk of my time spent outside in the city.  But what a way to spend one’s time in Shanghai!  It’s a repetitive story of bumping into people, being corralled by crossing guards and pink shirt wearing subway workers, slow trips up and down escalators and over-stuffed stairways, the always sardine-like subway cars themselves, and (if it’s raining) the use of umbrellas as tools to beat other people out of your path.  Everyday I tell myself I should make a video of my commute, but until I get that project off the ground here are some photographs I took one day on my way to and from work.

Before I get to the pictures I want to mention that today is Sunday and I am at work.  No, it is not overtime, there is no pressing work to be done, and no this is not a bit of law firm workaholic ridiculousness.  As they say in these parts: TIC (This is China).  I don’t want to explain Chinese vacations in depth, it is depressing and, besides, John of Sinosplice has already done a good job explaining this vacation absurdity.  Suffice it to say that a week long vacation in China only includes the 5 work days and if a weekend is attached to those 5 days then, well, you need to make up those two weekend days by working some other weekend.  Total complete bullsh*t that does nothing to increase productivity and only makes me wish I had learned French.  Those folks have vacations down to a lazy science.  Plus they have cheese and I love cheese.

Shanghai commute

Shanghai commute

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Posted in Photography, Shanghai | 5 Responses »

Vintage Books 新文化服务社

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

This post is part of my series of reviews of Shanghai bookstores, which I introduced here.  I am looking for the best English language bookstore in Shanghai and whatever other interesting bookstores I find along the way.  A Google map of all the bookstores can be found here.

Vintage Books Bookstore Shanghai 新文化服务社 书店 上海

为读者找书，为书找读者。For the reader to find the book,  for the book to find the reader.

English Name: Vintage Books
Chinese Name: 新文化服务社 (九华堂书斋)
Address: 卢湾区瑞金二路410弄3号
New or Used: Used
Languages: Almost entirely Chinese with a small section devoted to English, Japanese, and French books.  Even smaller selection of German and Dutch books.
Selection includes: Art, science, history, literature, and a scattering of foreign language books.

Is there any activity better suited to a Saturday afternoon than tracking down a new bookstore?  I ventured out into Shanghai’s windy streets this past Saturday over a week ago to find one of the most hard to find bookstores in all of Shanghai.  After reading a Chinese review of the store it seemed like this used bookstore (that I was originally on the fence about checking out) would make a worthwhile trip.  I was not mistaken.

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Posted in Books, Reading, Shanghai, Shanghai Bookstores | 6 Responses »

John Quincy Adams

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

If there is a Bostonian who ever sailed from his own harbor for distant lands, or returned to it from them, without feelings, at the sight of the Blue Hills, which he is unable to express, his heart is differently constituted than mine.

-John Quincy Adams

I’m kind of on a John Quincy Adams kick right now, certainly an odd place to be.  I got the above quote from Josiah Quincy’s 1858 biography, Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams.

I’m not terribly homesick for the blue hills of Massachusetts, but I will say I’m prouder than ever to be a native son of the Commonwealth.  With the passing of our great Senator Edward Kennedy I am reminded again of the great politicians and leaders that have come from the Bay State and our long and storied past.  I’ve found over the years that there’s no better vantage point to appreciate your home and government than from overseas, so these days I’m trying to find time between reading novels and watching Mad Men on Tudou to read about Massachusetts’ history and about some of the excellent people that have hailed from our state.  It’s a nice change from reading the Chinese news and researching Chinese law.  And what about those Red Sox, huh?  They’re just six games behind the Yankees at 89 and 60.  If we get to the Playoffs (knock on wood) I’m fairly certain I’ll be able to find a bar in Shanghai playing the games, of course, the timing couldn’t be worse here on the other side of the world.

Posted in America, History, Quotation, Reading | No Responses »
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How do you say gourmand in Chinese?

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Taotie 饕餮

Monsieur, qu’est-ce que tu veux manger?

I despise the term foodie.  You may have heard it before, it’s that of-the-moment word used to describe everyone from four star chefs and food bloggers (even those explaining how to make stir-fried tofu) to people that like to cook at home and watch Top Chef.  Back in the ’90s we didn’t seem to have such an insipid term, of course we didn’t have as much of a love of everything food related then, either.  At the house of my childhood, with it’s wonderfully overflowing bookcases of classic cookbooks (think: The Joy of Cooking, The Moosewood Cookbook, The Silver Palette Cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, etc.), the word gourmet was the only term I ever learned for those people that truly love to cook and eat.  And, lets be honest, gourmet never seemed to be the proper term for a thirteen year old boy trying (and failing) to make puff pastry by hand in July.  The word still fits me like an oversize suit tailored for a French aristocrat, perhaps one made for the the likes of Curnonsky.

Before I get to the Chinese language bit I must confess my absolute love of restaurant reviews, which is how I got started writing this post in the first place.  There was a time, about the time of that puff pastry debacle, when I loved to eat out.  There’s a spectacle to eating out at a nice restaurant, much like going to see a great play on opening night.  There’s an excitement to it, people look good, the table is clean and bright, everyone is nice to you, and you don’t really know how everything will turn out until the end of the show.  I just loved it.  I’m still reminded of those days when I read this blog.

Since my days as a teenager dining snob and wannabe French chef (I was way too messy to even be trying to achieve such a status), my thoughts have changed.  College taught me, in no uncertain terms, how expensive it can be to dine out when your parents aren’t paying and I also discovered that when you come home after months spent far away you really don’t want a break from your mother’s cooking, you want it night after night.  Living in a dorm, then in off-campus housing, and finally in Chinese apartments my idea of what makes for a good home cooked meal also changed from my younger days, now all I want is something flavorful and easy that uses cheap ingredients in smart ways.  Even though these days I really don’t eat out much, unless it’s a special meal, I still love to read restaurant reviews.  I love to read about food, it’s anendlessly enjoyable pastime.   Unfortunately, this habit has often put in in contact with the dreaded f-word I just mentioned.

With the rise of the internet I am no longer limited to the New York Times dining section when I look for reviews to read.  I can read and even listen (podcasts!) to restaurant reviews all the time now, and I do.  My Google Reader list of food blogs and the like is over 30 deep right now and will no doubt only grow.  For the record (and in my opinion), the best restaurant reviews are: the New Yorker’s Tables for Two (you can pop them like candy), Jonathan Gold’s spoken reviews on the Good Eats podcast (he does great written reviews for the LA Weekly as well), and anything coming out of the New York Times.  A quick note about the Times.  While Frank Bruni, the eponymous example of what a restaurant critic should be, may be no longer writing reviews (check out this great dinner conversation with him on Eater) I know that the paper will continue its tradition of great food writing.  By the way, this is only the top of my list, but I didn’t write this post to recommend places to read restaurant reviews so let’s move on.

The other day, while I was wasting time at work by reading reviews of restaurants that I will never get to visit, I came upon the term foodie in a review.  As I said earlier, I really dislike this term (this book bothers me to no end) and as it turns out I’m not alone in my feelings.  Sitting at my desk I began to think about the other offerings there are in the English language for a person that loves to cook and eat: gourmand, gastronome, gourmet, epicurean, epicure, cook, etc.  But then it hit me that I don’t live in an English speaking country.  I had never bothered to figure out what terms Chinese people use to describe folks like me and the gourmands and chefs I look up to.  So I quickly opened up my Chinese dictionary and clicked over to some online dictionaries to see what I could dig up that would do the job without sounding so damn cutesy.  As is often the case with Chinese food related vocabulary, the offerings were far more extensive than what you would find in any European language, even French.

The words I discovered basically fall into two categories: people who have discerning taste in food and gluttons.  The words for glutton being far more interesting linguistically.  One of the things that I find fascinating about the Chinese language is the way its words can be very practical and formulaic but can also be highly poetic and grounded in stories from China’s history.  An example of the former category includes words such as the first on this list, 美食家, which as a math equation would read: beautiful + food + expert.  That’s easy enough to understand.  On the other end of the spectrum are words that are highly poetic, metaphorical and/or related to China’s past.  One word I recently learned in this vein stands for solar eclipse, 日食, which comes out as “eating the sun.”  While all this diversity can make one feel that learning the language is an insurmountable task, lets not even talk about the characters, it also means that there will always be a new and interesting part of the language for you to learn no matter how long you live.  And that’s comforting knowledge my friends.  So here it is, how to say gourmand in Chinese:

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Posted in Food, Learning Chinese | No Responses »
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Rent a table to play board games in Shanghai

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Maybe I don’t pay enough attention anymore, but since when have there been places where you rent a table to play board games?  It’s a decidedly nerdy idea, which makes it perfect for China (a decidedly nerdy country).  I had never heard of such a place until this past Sunday when a few friends invited me to join them to play some board games.  I thought we would be going to a coffee shop or something, but we in fact were going to a store devoted to board games that rents out tables and rooms to parties of people.  What a fantastic idea!

I took the subway to the 东唱路 subway station on the other futurtistic skyscraper-dense side of the river.  After wandering the oddly eerie underground mall that sits above the subway station I finally found 悠来游趣.  This store, pictured above, has a massive collection of board games and card games that you can play there if you rent a table (30 yuan/hour).  Not only do you get to try tons of games but they also throw in free non-alcoholic beverages and have a staff that can walk you through how to play any and all of the games.  We started by playing a card game where each player represents a dot-com company, whoever goes bankrupt last wins.  We later moved onto another card game called saboteur, where teams try and tunnel to gold or sabotage those tunneling.  It was all a lot more fun than I expected and the five hours we spent there went by in a flash.  All in all a nice way to spend an afternoon.  It was also cheaper than the many other activities available in this city and since it included no alcohol and was a generally leisurely affair it was perfect way to hang out with my Muslim friend during Ramadan.  I will definitely be going back sometime.

These board game stores are apparently really popular all over Shanghai and can end up costing a lot of money, ours was on the cheaper end of the spectrum.  In China there seems to be a love of renting out spaces to socialize in.  The obvious example is karaoke (KTV, in Chinese), but coffee shops, restaurants, internet bars all offer private rooms to hang out with friends.  People’s apartments are often small and can be kind of barren in China, so renting space to hang out with friends, even just to play a board game, makes sense here.

Posted in Shanghai | 3 Responses »
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I love Anki, my SRS

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

What is a SRS?  It is a spaced repetition system and it is one reason why I will someday be fluent in Chinese.  I’ve been meaning to write a little something about it but it wasn’t until I discovered this fascinating article from Wired magazine about the man who first programmed this memorization tool, Piotr Wozniak, that I actually put in the time to do so.  The article is really worth a read for anyone interested in language or memory.  Go ahead and read it right now.

Some people say memorization isn’t that important anymore, I’ve had college professors tell me that.  These professors have had many years of students come through their classrooms who just crammed narrow facts into their brains for exams only to forget them after a week, understandably the professors wanted to make sure we didn’t forget the big ideas, methods of argument, large trends, etc.  This, they assured us, is the real value of a college education.  If you forget a date you can always look it up but the ability to structure an argument, deduce an overarching theme, write an essay or form an experiment – that’s the important stuff.  Yes, but in the real world memorization is still undeniably important.  Nowhere has this been more apparent and more frustrating to me than in learning languages.  If it was easy we’d all be picking up Italian by reading La Divina Comedia and no one would care about having a national language.

Anyway you look at it language is a massive amount of memorization.  And it’s a good thing that we go the lengths to memorize tens of thousands of words and all the other stuff that comes with learning a language.  Like learning the multiplication tables, having a crutch like a calculator or a dictionary will not save you, you still have to go through the difficult and time consuming work of memorization.  The old method of writing out flashcards and studying them simply doesn’t work.  Sure cramming flashcards the night before a test can help you do well the next day, but unless you do that everyday you’re going to forget the information.  When learning a language you cannot study the more than 15,000 words you need to know to become fluent everyday.  The problem of not knowing what you should be studying when you should be studying it is what screws us over.  A SRS uses computers to tell us what to study when we need to study it, following well know facts on the human brain’s retention of information.  It’s a tool you want to have on your side.

Because our ability to recall a piece of information we have learned is destined to decline over time we need to be reminded of the information to fully memorize it, not everyday after we learn it, but spaced out by intervals that utilize our time in the most efficient way possible so as to achieve the greatest rewards.  Spaced repetition does this.  This handy chart explains the SRS method of memorization for one piece of information over 60 days:

Living where the language you are learning is used is kind of like the SRS method.  If you buy a cup of coffee everyday in Italian pretty soon you will have that Italian language knowledge for that occasion down pat.  However living in a foreign country will not necessarily improve you language skills in all the ways it should be improving.  Paul Child, the ever-loving husband of Julia Child, brings up a common language learning problem in Mrs. Child’s memoir:

“It’s easy to get the feeling that you know the language just because when you order a beer they don’t bring you oysters.”

This has been a constant issue with me while learning Chinese.  Sure, if I was ordering a beer over the phone the person listening might mistake me for a native Chinese speaker, but that’s not fluency – not even close.  The fact is that living in China, or any language immersion environment, is not the be all end all for language learning.  If that was so then why can people live in a country for double-digit years and never learn the language?  Learning Chinese takes a lot of work, wherever you are learning it.  For me I started with traditional classes, which many question the use of though I have always found helpful to a degree, and now I’m studying completely on my own.  Without an SRS (I use Anki, which is great for Macs) this would be very difficult and slow.

These days I live in Shanghai and work in an office almost entirely staffed by Chinese people and this environment provides me with many chances to practice all the aspects of Chinese (listening, speaking, reading, writing).  Nevertheless, I’d probably be losing as much of my Chinese ability as I was gaining if I didn’t supplement my education by studying with Anki and other sources (reading Chinese books, watching Chinese movies, HSK test prep books, writing, etc.)  Since I do all my office work on a computer using Anki everyday is relatively easy and there’s really no reason that anyone who routinely uses a computer couldn’t also use it to memorize almost anything.  Whatever I decide to learn next, whether it’s law or the the Latin names of orchid species, I now have a tool that can make that possible.  I gotta tell ya it’s comforting having a piece of software that can grant you knowledge like this.

Granted it’s not a dream come true, it still takes a fair amount of heavy and consistent effort to achieve results.  This is a problem for any human being due to our lazy procrastinating nature.  I try and make it enjoyable by using Anki in small chunks throughout the day.  I usually do 3 ten minute sessions a day along with one big 20 minute session.  If I forget a day I don’t sweat it and if I have the energy to power on for an hour of study I do that.  Everyone uses a SRS differently and that’s as it should be.  My secret is to set a tiny goal when I sit down to study my Anki, usually just a period of study time, and complete that goal without getting distracted.  You do want to try and avoid SRS burnout.  Adding Chinese words and sentences to my deck of things to study is now part of my learning method, and besides it’s always going to be easier to add flashcards than to actually study them.

I wrote this post because I want to spread the word.  Like a Christian missionary in a foreign land I am following a system that has worked for me and I tell you because I think it will work for you too.  Unlike a Christian missionary I love to worship false idols and engage in homosexual love, but that’s neither here nor there.  In an odd way language learning is like religion, they’re both deeply individual activities (ehhh…).  What works for me may not work for you, though in my experience SRS systems are one of the most universal methods for learning languages.  We all forget things, right?

I first heard about using an SRS to learn a language from the inspiring language blog: All Japanese All the Time.  Though if you look you’ll find people singing its praises all over the internet.  Still, I hadn’t heard of it until this year and I’m not alone.  Out of the 50 or so American teachers I worked with last year (all college graduates) none of those I talked to had heard of it before.  I just wish I had use it during college, would have made life easier.  Three blogs I’ve found that talk about using a SRS to learn Chinese, which may interest you, are: Sinosplice, Global Maverick, and Doubting to Shuo (who wrote a nice little review of Anki).  These blogs (even the one about Japanese) are recommended for anyone wishing to read about learning Chinese.

As a final note I want to again heartily recommend Anki to anyone learning Chinese, Japanese, or….. anything!  It’s pretty, works well, is entirely free, and has such a popular group of followers that it is constantly improving.  Anki’s website has helpful demonstration videos as well that make getting started a cinch.  There are other SRS programs out there but I’ve never tried them.  Use the internet and find them if you’re interested, I’m happy with Anki so I don’t think I’ll bother.  Now, I think I should go and do another Anki session.  Peace.

Posted in Learning Chinese | 3 Responses »
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Handsome Furs at Yinyutang, Shanghai

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

(Via Jennywong’s Flickr)

A week ago I caught my first concert here in this crazy city.  The band was Handsome Furs.  The husband wife pair hail from another city I love deeply, Montreal.  You might know the singer of Handsome Furs, Dan Boeckner, since he is also the singer/guitarist for the excellent band Wolf Parade.

Their music is reminiscent of some of the other indie music coming out of Montreal, just with a stronger more beat driven pulse.  The band is simply  Mr. Boeckner singing and playing the guitar while his wife mans the drum machine/synthesizer.  They make a helluva lot of noise just between the two of them and while deciding whether or not I should go the concert it was their big noisy impact evident in their music videos that convinced me that the show would be awesome.  Obviously, I was not mistaken.

Not only was this my first concert but it was also my first time to Yin Yu Tang, which seems to be the premier place for interesting contemporary music.  It’s a nice place except for the fact that it would be considered small even in Burlington, Vermont let alone in a metropolis like Shanghai.  They make up for this very disappointing fact by having a large park in their backyard where people can sit at tables and drink beer under the star-less sky.

The opening act was a local band named Boys Climbing Ropes.  They were good, though there were so many people crowded around me that I couldn’t fully appreciate the music by dancing, or in fact moving my body in any way.  After getting some air out back between acts my friend and I went back in and prepared for the Handsome Furs, getting some beers staking out a spot in the back.

Even before the Handsome Furs came on, the small room we were all crowded into was sweltering.  By the end of the night everyone’s shirts were quite literally soaked through, don’t know that I’ve ever sweated that much at a concert before.  The show was everything you want from a concert, I don’t think I could have asked for anything more from my first concert in Shanghai.  Electro-clash punk indie rock really hits the spot for the young and energetic.  The show was loud, fun, crazy, and exciting in all the right ways.  The band was sweating in the stifling heat and seemed to be having as much fun as us in the audience.  We were all really into the music and they showered us with appreciation, going to great lengths to tell us how much they loved Shanghai and it’s people.  All in all a fantastic night of music.  God, I hope we get more good bands coming through Shanghai.

Here’s a video from their night in Shanghai playing, ironically enough, “Hate This City”:

Posted in Music, Shanghai | 1 Response »
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What is the best English language bookstore in Shanghai?

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

I remember six years ago, when I first landed in China, finding an English language bookstore with a decent selection was a hard thing to do.  While the situation has gotten much better, it’s still difficult to find a place with a wide selection of English books of both older and up to date offerings.  And good luck finding a comfortable quiet place where you can buy a coffee and sit and read for hours, that just doesn’t exist.

I should mention that in Kunming, where I used to live, visitors can find the amazing Mandarin Books.  They have an unparalleled selection of English books about Yunnan, it’s many ethnic groups, and Southeast Asia and they also have an impressive collection of very old books.  Though one look at the prices and you might just faint, especially if you’re a lowly student.  They ship worldwide.

In Hunan, I was resigned to the fact that an English language bookstore wasn’t going to suddenly pop up near me.  So when I traveled outside of Hunan – whether it was Beijing, Hong Kong, or Luang Prabang, Laos - I always picked up some good reads.  Luckily, I also have a father that likes nothing more than to send me copies of the New Yorker and lots of books.  Before I came here I had imagined that Shanghai would be a mecca of good bookstores, but on getting here there wasn’t a place that instantly stood out to me as “the best.”  Asking the few locals I know hasn’t produced better results.

So I did some research online.   Finding the information lacking in many ways and that there are more bookstores than I expected, I thought I would do a survey of the best of the best in Shanghai bookstores and write about what I found on this blog.  The bookstores on my list to visit so far include:

Charterhouse Books on Nanjingxilu & Charterhouse Books on Huaihai zhonglu

Garden Books (City Weekend Review)

Shanghai Book City on Fuzhou lu (上海图书城)

Shanghai Books Trade (上海外文书店)

Shanghai Music Bookstore (上海音乐书店)

Vintage Bookstore (新文化服务社) (City Weekend review)

Buddhist Bookstore (佛学书局)

Shanghai Art Bookstore (艺术书店)

Blue Fountain Books (蓝泉图书)

If any of you have other suggestions please write them down in the comments of this post.  I would really appreciate your help in this search!

I am aware these are not all purely English language bookstores, even though that is my focus.  But how could I miss the chance to check out a bookstore devoted to music or one with nothing but Buddhist texts?  Both are extremelly hard, if not impossible, to find in America these days.  I left out stores devoted to children’s books, though there seem to be several in the city.  Kid’s Republic seems like a good bet.

Another question is what should I do with my growing library in China.  I’d have to be a Saudi Prince to ship my books by mail or put them in my checked luggage (the fines!!).  Use an electronic reader you say?  I’ll save my thoughts on that subject for another time.

Posted in Books, Reading, Shanghai | 10 Responses »
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Gay News Flash: Protest in Guangzhou

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Shanghaiist alerted me (a week ago, oops) to a recent protest in a public park down in the metropolis of Guangzhou (you may know it as Canton).  Public parks are the traditional meeting place for gay men in China (the world?) and it seems that People’s Park in Guangzhou is no exception to this, over 100 gay men meet there nightly.  China Daily wrote about the incident.

On a recent night the police tried to get a group of gay men to leave the park.  This was ostensibly because gay men bring crime to the park, the police said there had been incidents of harassement and petty theft.  The gay men countered that they are more often the victims of crime in the park, which seems more likely to me.  The standoff was successful and the police left the gay men at the park.  Kind of a victory, I guess.  A video of the protest was uploaded to Tudou, a Chinese version of Youtube.

As happy as I am that gay men are speaking up for themselves and fighting “the Man,” I really wish that Chinese gay men had better places to hang out.  And I’m not just talking about bars and clubs, which a city as big as Guangzhou is certain to have.  Why not have community centers, support groups, restaurants/cafes owned by people in the LGBT community, or other safe places for the gay community that don’t bring to mind anonymous sex behind a bush?  The China Daily article mentions that volunteers go to People’s Park in Guangzhou to teach others about safe sex.  A good start, but I think there needs to be more.  If Chinese society won’t let gay men come out of the closet let’s at least make a closet that is indoors, well-light, supporting, and comfortable.

Posted in Homosexuality, News | 1 Response »
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China is Bizarre

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Bridge smeared with butter to stop suicides

Chinese workers have covered a giant steel bridge with butter because officials are fed up with traffic jams caused by people who slow down to watch suicide victims leaping to their death.

For some reason I’ve always considered butter a luxury here in China.  Now they’re smearing bridges with it?  Oh China…

Posted in News | 1 Response »