| I've been in Shangers for several years...let me apologize in advance as this will hurt a little, but these are my honest observations as somebody who has lived in quite a few countries around the world: Likes * Easy Chinese girls...sure they need a wash down there but I'm not that picky. * One of the only places where I can walk down a busy street and honestly say I'm the best looking and most hygienic person there. * Xiaolongbao. * However disgusting of a pig I act, I can rest assured that there will be a Chinese close at hand to make my piggish behavior seem absolutely genteel in comparison. Dislikes * Shanghai hype, China hype...their economy is based on Soviet-style mass production of shitty goods and slave labor. Name one domestically designed-and-produced product (that isn't a blatant ripoff of a Japanese or American design) that isn't a complete piece of shit. * Complete lack of innovation, quality control, or copyright laws. * Nightlife in Shanghai is sooo lame. Lonely losers picking up Shanghai hoes, shitty outdated club music, and overpriced wannabe "glamor" bars. Fake hiphop heads who've never heard of Afrikka Bambatta, A Tribe Called Quest, or The Roots. * Live music scene is crap - Filipino bands (not that I have anything against Filipinos!) and a couple jazz cover bands. * Horrible fashion sense. The funny thing is Chinese people think that Shanghai is the most fashionable city in China...well not if you include Hong Kong, sorry Shangers. Young guys dressed in fake bathing ape...people are still wearing this shit? Lots of synthetics, fake fur trim, and badly coordinated outfits. Mismatched tracksuit top and bottom worn with black leather shoes...wtf??? * Chinese food. Chinese people think their food is the best in the world. It isn't. Pretty much every other country in Asia has had waaay better food than in China. Why do Chinese feel the need to douse everything in a liter of cooking oil and MSG? The culinary skills, by and large, are shit. That's because the most skilled and knowledgeable Chinese chefs fled during the cultural revolution, and to this day you can get better Chinese food in Hong Kong or San Francisco than you can in the mainland. And Shanghainese food is even worse, as it is oily even for Chinese food, as well as being sweet. Can you say e xing?? * Shanghainese girls...can you say Fug Lee? Chinese girls are sooo not hot, and that's fine, we can't all be Brazilian models can we, but the funniest/saddest part is that Shanghainese girls somehow got it into their silly little heads that they are hot and stylish because they have a fake LV bag and big sunglasses, sorry but you're still a pasty, flabby, flat-assed, materialistic b*tch. Add high heels for greater comic effect, and watch a Shanghainese girl wobble around like a clown on stilts. (hint, high heels aren't worn back on the farm, gets stuck in the pigshit). * Ugly buildings. Shanghai's municipal gov't, in an effort to seem like a real world city and not a provincial backwater, threw up all kinds of crazy "futuristic" buildings with lights all over them. Unfortunately, most of them look like they were designed by a 12 year old hallucinating on mushrooms. Instead of having an innovative, integrated design, they nearly all have some kind of "cap" or "hat" plunked on top. The overall effect is pretty silly. On top of that, the quality of the buildings screams "made in China" in that they tend to look old and dilapidated within 3 years. * Shopping sucks. I'm not a rabid shopper, but I do like to be reasonably well-dressed and have some new clothes once in a while. You'd figure a city that was 85% shopping centers would at least offer a lot in this area. Well, sorry, but Shanghai is one of the worst cities in Asia as far as shopping goes. Honestly, save your money and go to Hong Kong or Bangkok. The clothing falls into 2 basic categories here: extremely overpriced 80s designer clothes like Gucci or Burberry, that rich Chinese think is still fashionable, or "domestic" Chinese clothes, that are laughably ugly and poorly made...I wear neither. I just want nice, understated clothes that don't have sequins or fake fur trim, and that don't make me look like gay Versace runway trash from 1986. Even my trips to Zara and H&M yielded nothing, as the clothes in the stores here are COMPLETELY different from say, Paris or NY (must be for domestic tastes?) If you're shopping for electronics, forget Shanghai. I honestly don't get foreigners who come here to drop $10K on electronics, and end up paying more than they would in the US if they shopped around for a couple days. Shanghai IS NOT the place to buy electronics in China. In fact, the prices here are quite high, even by US standards. If you want electronics, go to Guangzhou or Shenzhen. * Lack of any real cultural identity or distinctly "Shanghainese" ethos, other than greed and vulgar materialism. I first moved here in 1999. People at that time were buzzing about a cultural and creative renaissance. Well. it never happened. Where's the vibrant and original art and cultural scene that a city this dynamic should have? |
10 Things You Love/Hate About Shanghai