Melancholic tang poetry on shikumen walls
Somewhere in the labyrinth of shikumen lanes between Jinan Lu (济南路) and Hefei Lu (合肥路), the soundtrack of longtang living was underway: the clanging of spatulas against sizzling…
All about China
We are but a shirtless belly away
We flung outselves into Spring’s embrace a few days ago under sun-soaked rays, light breezes and an explosion of blooming flowers. Other signs make it hard to…
Nostalgia in harmony
“The only thing better than singing is more singing.” ~ Ella Fitzgerald One of the best ways to experience the city is to immerse yourself in the many…
How do you view China?
If I were a romantic, I’d paint a picture of China’s social and economic contrasts. A stalwart worker poised on his bicycle, a mode of transportation that once…
A negotiation in bread
The jolly baker was a fixture at the market where teaming masses of human bodies bumped and jostled their way around. He always had a smile on his…
Recounting childhood memories
This past weekend, I met with Terence Lloren who runs “Growing up with Shanghai”, a project series of sound walks with young Shanghainese who grew up in the city in…
Hello, goodbye, again and again
“You missed them. They left two weeks ago for their hometown in Jiangsu.” The neighbor shivered a little in her shapeless coat while stirring a pot of boiling…
The remaining days
He laughed when I asked how long he and his wife were living in this house. “She’s not my wife. She’s my mother-in-law.” It was only after a…
大展鸿图: Achieving excellence
The room was neat with its distinctly light turquoise-colored walls and dark wooden furniture. It took a while to decipher the characters on the poster but it means…
If walls could talk
It was unusually quiet in this particular longtang*. For one, the cold snap has more or less driven everyone indoors to huddle around heaters, that is, if they…
- 1
- 2