Shanghai Urban Sculpture Centre or Red Town

Jeremy

Shanghai upon the Sea

Sept. 13th 2008

Nature's Last Bloom

By the Farmer's Almanac, the northern hemisphere has since officially entered into autumn or fall. Passing by the People's Square Park, there were these yellow flowers falling or cascading from the tree, a very inspirationally poetic and visually captivating moment depicted in many of the Chinese poems. With temperature cooling cool from day to day, though it was hot on the day and shower on and off, this is none other than the sign of nature's last bloom.

Jeremy
Shanghai upon the Sea
Sept. 14th 2008

Promotional Event of Autos by the People's Square Park

This miniature below bears its plate called Tiny Royalty

Growing number of nouveau riche coupled with greater degree of material concerns, there are now more and more big and small car promotional events around town. The one shown above took advantage of a small plot by the entrance to the People's Square Park in attracting the milling crowd and endless stream of passers-by along the Nanjing East Road.

Jeremy

Shanghai upon the Sea

Sept. 14th 2008

Fruit Dinner

After the search online, the picture above shows a type of fruit called Golden Lady or 金姑娘(pronounced as Jin Guniang). There are many other names known according to local nicknames; they are姑鸟果、酸浆果、长生果、金灯果、菠萝果、姑娘果、燈籠果、龍珠果、圣女果、金珠果、洛神珠、洋姑娘、香姑娘、布谷鸟、含羞果。The fruit is commonly found in the northern region of China. Similar in size as a cherry tomato, it is yellowish green in color and sweetly aromatic. In the form of a palace lantern, the fruit is hidden inside or exterior wrapped around with 5-leaf like layers similar to the wing of the dragon fly.

This is what happened when getting sick and tired of cooking and cleaning everyday.

See how dishes are dumped into and piled up in the sink.

All day Friday today, though TGIF, I was in my petulant mood not wanting to commit to working professionally and this started from the very beginning of the day.

Finally, it's over.

Rushing home just now and on the way picking RMB48.50 worth of fruits, yes, all fruits for dinner tonight.

No need to wash platters but exclusively indulging in these fresh and delicious fruits for dinner tonight.

I am elated and gratified.

Jeremy
Shanghai upon the Sea
Sept. 12th, 2008

Joy to mid-Autumn Festival !
仲秋快乐 ！

明月千里寄相思
Greetings from Shanghai

Jeremy
Sept. 14th, 2008

Mooncakes and Green Tea

Su Demei (serving tea at his home town in Fujian on Feb.17th 2007)

Mid-autumn Festival: A Gift from Su Demei

This coming 15th day of Eighth Moon of the Lunar calendar, or by the Gregorian calendar September 14th, is the Mid-autumn Festival. The current Chinese culture about the Mid-autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival still firmly centers on family gathering. With appreciative giving of mooncakes as an endearment gesture in keeping up with family bonding, friendship valuation, good will fellowship or camaraderie, today I also received one, in fact, more than one.

It was a package of mooncakes and green tea. The package sent from Zhengzhou is from Su Demei; he is from Fujian but working in Zhengzhou, Henan. Two Chinese New Years ago, I spent my time there in Fujian with Demei’s family; I had a very wonderful time there. Delivering to me more than a gift, I am really touched by his generosity and kindness. I wish I have something now to complement but at this point I could not think of any but gratefulness.

The mooncakes are good for and consumable by anyone from any religious order. The essential ingredients of mooncakes consist of flour, peanuts, sesame seeds, chestnuts, lotus seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. Whereas, the tea is called Tie Guanyin, a very renowned kind of tea produced from the Anxi of Fujian Province.

Several evenings ago, Yun Siew-Mooi from Kuala Lumpur has cracked an amusing humor that the Mid-autumn Day, indeed mid of autumn by Farmer’s Almanac, is the birthday of the Moon. True to tradition, the moon was and still is referred to as the Mother Moon.

Well, all of you send your well wishing now…

“Happy birthday to Mother Moon!”

Jeremy
Shanghai upon the Sea
Sept. 11th 2008

Monday evening at the Xintiandi Mall

Have not been hanging out at the mall especially on Monday evening after work while work has really taken over the pleasure time out...Since it was Monday evening, the mall was nearly void with few shopping around but many were at the dinner tables. The surrounding mall has also come alive with many more shops opened up, an indicator that I have not been to the area a long time.

Jeremy

Shanghai upon the Sea

Sept. 9th 2008

Towering structures and green pasture

The Jinmao Tower (left) and the Shanghai Financial Center (right) are now standing tall side by side. However, it will not be too long that another structure, long proposed and recently approved, shall be standing taller immediately next to them. Right by the River Front Promenade, the green pasture in the foreground is several city blocks away from the said structures. Many passers-by especially tourists take advantage of this long vacant green area to rest and to take pictures. Indeed, there is almost none of this green area allocated within the city, where a nice panoramic cityscape or stunning skyline could be viewed while resting on the green at the same time.

Jeremy
Shanghai upon the Sea
Sept. 7th 2008

Nanjing East Road of Shanghai: The Most Capitalistic Street of China

Everywhere along the Nanjing East Road, intense commercial activities are screaming with "buy me, buy me...take me home, take me home..." Locals and tourists alike are spending like there is no tomorrow. Another common sight, large billboards or displays continue to milk from horrendous abuse of intellectual properties. It is essentially a place where everything goes, with or without taste. This pedestrian boulevard is not catered for upper income levels. Bad behavior, ill manner and rude gesture such as beating traffic lights, spitting, littering, loud mouth - peoples are trying so desperately to get be the center of attention - are everywhere.

Jeremy

Shanghai upon the Sea

Sept. 7th 2008

Propaganda Events for Shanghai Expo 2010

In 600 days when the Expo 2010 shall commence, Shanghai is now gearing up city wide activities of intensified refurbishment, renovation, reconstruction and retrofitting.

The street behind where I live has been part of this program. Storefronts have been made to improve their sign boards in greater degree of appealing consistencies and less ghastly chaos. New alignments of mass rapid transit with interchange stations are at their full force construction, and in timely delivery, to guarantee proper logistics, vehicular as well as human flow during the Expo.

At the forever busy Nanjing East Road, some school kids were seen on stage singing Expo related songs, with the theme Expo Getting Into the Neighborhood, wowing many passers-by around the huge plaza space. Nearby was also staged as an exhibition area, displaying cultural and historical matters of China and from other areas.

Jeremy

Shanghai upon the Sea

Sept. 7th, 2008

Urban Construction

When Subway Line 9 was aligned close to this area, trying to link but at a short walking distance with Line 2, the older neighborhood in its surrounding especially those residential quarters were immediately put into re-location process. They are now emptied out. These buildings used to be occupied several years ago until the construction team moved in for high speed mass transit alignment. With its residential occupants gone, there are still families littering in these buildings. Clothe lines still hang out daily. Presumably, they are those construction workers who temporarily move in as well as housing their immediate family who tag along wherever these workers are on site. If examined closer, however, many fenestrations are bricked up, rendering inaccessibility into each of the subdivision on every level. The bricked-up divisions are presumed to keep unwanted elements from entering. These structures are also not bull-dozed, presuming they will be renovated and reused in future.

Jeremy
Shanghai upon the Sea
Sept. 6th 2008

Panoramic views of Dongchang Subway Station Exit No. 2 by Century Boulevard

A very balmy, windy, sunny and cloudy morning...

As always, going to do grocery shopping and always via this way back, a favorite route dotting with good urban features, I have to take a few moments to capture the above shown panoramic views. The same view was shot twice, one a little wider than the other.

Immediately next to the Exit No. 2, the building in the centre is nearing its completion. With endless flow of human traffic relying on Line 2 Subway at this Dongchang Subway Station, the site in proximity used to be be an empty or abandoned lot with unsightly features around. It was an undesirable and fragmented urban corner. Now that some well featured building is allocated, the urban corner appears much more appealing than ever.

Now, this is progress.

Jeremy

Shanghai upon the Sea

Sept. 6th, 2008

A Hearty Dinner after the Swim at Yuanshen Swimming Hall

After the swim, three of us, Yang Zhisheng, Sunny and I went for the 8-course Xi'an region dinner topping with a bottle of Tsing-tao Beer, for around RMB100.

Jeremy

Shanghai upon the Sea

Sept. 6th 2008

An Urban Sculpture on Nanjing Road

They can be a rare novelty in Shanghai, inclusively this inescapably under-maintained urban sculpture located right by Nanjing Road. Its overall appearance seems acceptable but the foot hold is rusty and rotting away at closer examination.

Urban scupture undoubtedly serves to appeal visually and enhances interest to the urban environment. Children plays around it, some crossing over, crawling underneath, climbing or dangling on, standing high, walking or chasing around, playing hide and seek in between, interactively pushing, touching, banging or even kicking the sculpture. There is such an intense activities for the children. It is truly a great place for kids to gather and have a fun day out.

However, the location is way too close to the hustle and bustle of Nanjing Road, traffic loudly roars by. Scooters and bicycles infrequently and always very rudely intrude into the proximity of this sculpture, directly hampering the safety of those playful kids.

Jeremy
Shanghai upon the Sea
Sept. 6th 2008

Solar Altitude

Elevating my view out of window to check out the strong sunlight, I was pretty surprised to have found out that the sun was at the apex of Jinmao Tower. Noting this from the picture taken, similar to a kind of time machine, the phenomenal moment was at 15:25 p.m. on Sept. 3rd, 2008. Later in the evening, I also noticed that it turned dark at 6:30 p.m. just now. The daylight hours shorten gradually while night hours lengthen. Temperature has gone down much. It's not as hot as several weeks ago. Many are also more aware that autumn is around the corner with mid-Autumn Festival looming in less than two weeks.

Jeremy
Shanghai upon the Sea
Sept. 3rd, 2008

Dinner

To Elaine Gan

Speaking of rising prices of consumer goods and about switching to canned food, guess what I had for dinner tonight...

Clockwise from top left:

Canned – Fried dace with salted black bean
Plastic wrapped – natural jellyfish
Fresh from market - Crushed cucumber simmered in spice vinegar, sprinkled with garlic salt and sesame oil
Freshly boiled porridge
Plastic wrapped - Roasted peppered pork loin
Canned - Fried beancurds

This could be the first time I had more canned and plastic wrapped at one go. The above choices for dinner tonight were specially planned just for flavor change serving my palette after losing out on what to eat.

Jeremy
Shanghai upon the Sea
Sept 2nd, 2008

Workers hanging on...

Two workers have been ascending and descending outside the office window. This afternoon, they both came close to the window next to my work desk. They were retroffiting the exterior wall. For me who is suffering from acrophobia, I can't imagine how these workers work their way outside the building dangling on there. Remembering from reading about those bridge painters working the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, they actually paint the bridge top to bottom and from end to end all year round. Well, that's life.

Jeremy

Shanghai upon the Sea

Sept. 2nd, 2008