Movie nights

One of the ironic things that has happened to me during my time in Shanghai is that I now have a chance to watch quite a bit of critically acclaimed movies. I have never been much of a movie buff. I know plenty of people who flock to the theaters to watch movies during its opening weekend. I also know people who subscribe to Netflix and developed a system where they burn copies of DVDs that they received and quickly turning the DVDs back to Netflix so they can get more. They don't even watch the movies right away; they are only interested in quickly amassing a large collection so they have their pick to watch on a rainy day. I know others who are addicted to pay-per-view movies. Well, I am not any of those people. I tend to watch movies once in a while when my friends or my wife are in the mood. I also tend to watch the Oscar nominated movies after they get nominated. So you can say that I am a passive movie fan. I enjoy a good movie just like the next person, but I rarely go out of my way to watch a movie.

Then I discover www.imdb.com and came to China. I don't think it will come as a shock to anyone that China probably has the biggest knock-off DVD market in the world. When you are in Shanghai it is difficult to pass a day without either passing some street vendor or a small shop peddling counterfeit DVDs. You can get nearly anything that is popular in the world of cinema or television. The selection is decidedly American-centric; although there is also quite a bit of Korean, Japanese, mainland Chinese, and Hong Kong movies and TV shows available as well.

My pattern of watching American TV shows now that I am in Shanghai has become buying a seasons worth of DVDs during the summer months after they go on hiatus. That is how I have been able to follow "Lost". Most of the highly rated American TV shows are available in this way. This also includes the classic TV shows like "Seinfeld", "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or "Friends". One season (24 episodes) of DVD quality video will be on 8 DVD disks costing 5-7RMB per disk (.65-.92). One season of compressed video files will fit on 2 DVD disks again costing 5-7 RMB. You do the math, it’s pretty cheap.

I recently started to check out the imdb top 250 of all time movies and realized that I may have seen about 50 of them. Then I realized that this was a good list for me to check out some good movies that I missed. Some of the DVD stores here in Shanghai have a pretty good collection of movies that include quite a number of the movies on this list. These stores tend to be in the areas that where foreign expatriates live. These are the people who drive the demand for these older movies. Lately, I had a chance to watch "Taxi Driver", "Fight Club", "Seven Samurai", "Reservoir Dogs", "Kill Bill", and "Leon" to name a few. I will probably try to check out some of the the top 10 movies soon, like "The Godfather", "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".

Anyway, here is the list for those of you who have not seen it:

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

At 5-7 RMB a pop for these movie classics, you just can't beat it.

BTW, Fight Club was a much better movie than I thought. I thought it was going to be one of those blood sport movies and wondered why it was on the list. Well now I know.

Getting Around in Shanghai

I think it is safe to say that NY traffic is reputed to be the most notorious in America. It would be also safe to say that NY drivers are probably the most aggressive in America. In Shanghai on the other hand, its every man for himself. In the US, the pecking order is usually cars yields to pedestrians although not always the case in NY. Here in Shanghai, cars do not yield to pedestrians so it would take a brave soul to walk in front of an oncoming car. Usually in that kind of situation the car will stop but he will do so about 2 inches from your body and it would be of the screeching variety, or he just might hit you. Add on top an onslaught of bicycle traffic going in every direction on sidewalks and the road and about 18 million Shanghaiese and you have a fairly harrowing experience for the uninitiated.

My commute to work is a 18 minute bus ride or a 18 minute taxi ride. With the kind of traffic we are talking about taxis are no faster than the bus. In Shanghai, people commute primarily by either bus or bicycle. The subway system here is not too extensive (5 lines) so far so for now bus and bike are still king. These buses are usually filled to the brim with people and in that kind of situation you throw civility out the window and yield to physics. Just move with the flow and don't fight the force pushing you in a particular direction. Most bus rides within the city will run between 2-3 RMB (26-39 cents). These bus drivers all think they are Mario Andretti, swerving between lanes, cutting off cars and missing cyclists and pedestrians by inches. There are lots of car accidents in Shanghai (for that matter China in general), but considering their rules of the road I am surprised there aren't more.

The aforementioned subway system is still a work in progress here. The long term plan is to build the most extensive subway system in the world by 2020. With the amount of people living and working here they need it. Hopefully this will alleviate some of the congestion above ground. There are only 5 lines in operation currently and by 2020 they plan to have 24 lines in operation. Generally, the fares on the subways here are 2-7RMB depending on distance (26-92 cents) traveled. The trains are far more modern and surprisingly cleaner than their NY counterparts. There are flat screen monitors on the station platform that lets the riders know when the next train will arrive. I think that they can do this because in most cases the subways are punctual. There are no mysterious stoppages of the trains in between stations that are a part of life in NY. Usually, the trains are fairly crowded and during rush hours, intensely crowded.

The taxis here in Shanghai, like their brethren around the world are the most aggressive drivers on the road. If bus drivers are Mario Andretti, then the cab drivers are Evel Knievel. 11RMB for the first 3km (1.87 miles) and 3RMB for each additional km. Most of the taxis are Volkswagen Santanas.

Despite all of these problems, I still would not trade my current commute with what I had in NY. Go from 80 minutes to 25 minutes door to door is not too bad. Of course most of that has to do with the fact that I can afford to live in the center of the city here while that is not as attainable in NY.

Greed

What better way to describe greed than looking at the psychology of the stock market? Here in Shanghai, the Shanghai Composite Index has risen to record highs day after day. On 1/1/06 this index stood at 1161 and in just 20 months the index is currently at 4980. This a staggering 328% gain in 20 months!! If you want to take a look at the data here it is:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=000001.SS

It seems like everybody, their parents and their grandparents are in the stock market. Everybody is talking about the stock market, people are quitting their jobs to day trade, and brokerages are popping up everywhere. At current levels the Shanghai Composite is trading at 55 times last year's earning as an aggregate. Does this sound familiar? I feel like I have traveled back in time and were back in the late 90's again when the NASDAQ rose to similar heights only to crash back to reality.

The problem with the bubble in China is that it has risen even faster than the NASDAQ bubble and it probably has more room to go up. Currently, citizens of China cannot invest abroad. Their only options are to put their money in the bank, real estate or domestic stocks. They cannot go abroad in search of better investments. On the flip side, foreigners cannot invest in the Chinese stock market either. This is creating a situation where in the short term, there will probably be a continuing rise in the Shanghai stock market. But when it drops, look out. The PE's might be in triple digits before that happens.

What drives all of this? Greed of course. Everybody knows that there are normal ways that things operate, but when greed takes over rational goes down the toilet. People are rationalizing that China's booming economy will sustain these prices and because there is so much saving in China that it needs to find a place go. Well we heard some of same arguments to justify the prices of the NASDAQ and where did that lead us?

I am not smart enough to say what the catalyst will be that will burst this bubble, all I know that it will happen in the near to intermediate future. And then greed will turn into fear and panic.

Censorship in China

This is going to sound bizarre, but I cannot view the homepage of my own blog at least not at home. This is because all blogs hosted by blogspot (aka google blogger) is banned in China. I am not entirely sure of the criteria necessary for a website to be blocked here in China but it would be safe to say that any criticism of the government through opinions or mention of notorious events in their history would fall under the censorship. Other reasons seems pretty random. For instance, I can view New York Times articles and yet cannot view BBC articles. I don't know what the BBC covers that gets them censored over the NY Times. Also why every blog hosted by blogspot would be censored is strange. Not all blogs on blogspot is about China; but perhaps it is such a popular host of blogs that they decided to give it blanket coverage. Other things seems pretty odd as well, for instance I have a friend who runs a website of his store that sells Japanese animation products in NY and for the longest time I could not view it here in Shanghai. However, at last check I was able to view his website. The products he sells seem innocuous to me, so the secret formula of the Great Digital Wall of China as mystifying as ever.

Now for this blog on blogspot, I am not blocked from my administrative page. This means that I am allowed to maintain the blog in every way - composing the blog, upload pictures, select/edit the look and feel of the blog, etc. - but I just cannot see the blog on its homepage. So is the Chinese government allowing people to let the story out to the rest of the world but feels the need to conceal it from its own people to prevent mutinous feelings at home? Who knows but this is very typical of the ways that China works. Their way of doing things sometimes seem contradicting and are always fluid. There will be many more stories based on this theme in future blogs.

Fortunately, I cannot view my blog only at home. This is because at home my internet access is via a Chinese internet provider so all content flowing through them are subject to censorship. However, at work my internet access is via servers in the US therefore I am able to view the blog with all of your wonderful feedback during work hours.

Restaurant Blues

After living in NY for so many years I have been spoiled by the endless variety of cuisines available in Gotham. So that was a bit of an adjustment when I came to Shanghai. Not that there aren't any good food here, quite on the contrary food here is quite good. Its just that the good food are of the various styles of Chinese food (Sichuan, Shanghaiese, Cantonese, Northern China etc) which are somewhat unique to each other but are fundamentally similar. In NYC one can enjoy good food from all corners of the world prepared by immigrants from those countries. Therefore authenticity of the food is preserved. Here in Shanghai, many foreign restaurants are owned by the Chinese, therefore authenticity is compromised. These small differences makes me think, " hmm something is just not right with this sushi".

Of course, it makes sense why this is the case. For most people around the world who want to make it big, America is still the big attraction and for immigrants the place to go is NYC. Flat out, there is just more money flowing through the US economy so that attracts some of the best talent and that includes chefs.

Anyway, my biggest disappointment is the dearth of quality Japanese food. There are plenty of mediocre Japanese restaurants, but very few are of the quality that exists in NYC. Most Japanese restaurants in Shanghai are of the buffet variety. Usually 150 RMB (around $20) gets you unlimited amount of freshly prepared food off the menu. This is not the buffet that one is familiar with in the US, you don't go to the buffet table and pick through cooked food under heat lamps. Here, you basically are handed a menu and you order anything off the menu in unlimited quantity. So the food at these places are better than your typical buffet, but it is still mediocre. When you are talking about 150 RMB a person for a meal you are talking about quite an expensive meal for an average person in Shanghai. This is a city where the average salary is in the neighborhood of 3000RMB a month. So imagine you make $36,000 in the States and you have to pay for a $150 meal.

What I miss are places like Seki Sushi, Sushi Yasuda, or Sushi of Gari in NYC. Don't get me thinking about the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. That is where I had the best sushi in my life behind a counter in a setting that would make a luncheonette proud.

Pizza is a similar story. I did not think that I would miss pizza when I left NY, but did I ever. And a lot has to do with the fact that the best pizza establishments in Shanghai is Pizza Hut or Papa John's. These are places that one would eat in the States when you can't decide where to eat. A large pie at these places would cost 75-110 RMB depending on the topping. That comes to $10 - $15 - around what you would pay in the States for a large pie. What this means is that these places are somewhat upscale here in China. Overall, the pizza scene in Shanghai is pretty grim. Boy, do I long for places like Grimaldi's in Garden City (haven't been to the original in Brooklyn), Nick's in Forest Hills and heck even the pizzeria by my parent's house.

Sigh, these are some of the things that one must adjust to when you leave a place like NYC.

First post

Just a brief introduction about myself. My name is Adam and I was born in Taipei, Taiwan and I left for New York City when I was 7. I have just moved to Shanghai, China last year after 28 years in NYC.

This blog will be about my current life in Shanghai with reflections back over my 35 years. It will also be my opinions about life, business, history, traveling, sports, politics or whatever else comes to my mind. There will not be any formal themes except what is on my mind. Sometimes there is not much, sometimes there will be a lot.