Home owner, house father
I had never met a resident in the longtang (弄堂) who owned all three floors of his shikumen (石库门). The structure is traditionally narrow – the door opened into…
China
Worn sole, worn soul
Apparently, in shoe factories in China, it takes two hundred pairs of hands to make a running shoe. Cutters stamp sheets of fabric to form soles, stitchers then…
The Singing Ship
This old and rusting ship was moored off the Pudong side of the Huangpu River (黄浦江) by Zhangyang Harbour (张扬码头), but is no longer there. Nobody was ever…
Carom precision
The balmy autumn afternoons seem so far away now that the cruel mistress that is winter taunts us with a wet chill that seeps into bones and dulls…
Double Happiness
It’s the 3rd day of Chinese New Year and I’ve been partaking in family and epic culinary festivities non-stop, which has resulted in my brief absence and my…
Les poissons
Best heard with Les poissons. It was an open street of poultry and seafood massacre, and a very busy day for everyone at the market. The word glee…
Street glamour
A little randomness along Changle Lu, Shanghai’s boho-fashion district. The female shopkeeper wandered out, eyed my camera and said casually, “The dress is very beautiful. Are you interested?”…
The promise of a leather jacket
Who doesn’t want to look as handsome as James Dean, decked out in a dangerous looking leather jacket with a fur collar? The salesmen were not ethnically Chinese,…
The makings of a humble pancake
For poor construction workers, each meal is about loading up enough carbohydrates to carry them through the day of heavy lifting, shoveling or jack hammering. The foundation ingredients…
And then they were gone
I’ve lost them. I was away for 3 weeks and returned to a shell that left nary a sign of its past existence. Only 3 weeks ago, I…