In thinking about what to name my first blog, I wanted a title that expressed a generic description of the differences witnessed while my family and I spend the next three years in Shanghai. "The Shanghai Way" is appropriately titled since there are customs, manners, activities and lifestyles that I have only witnessed in Shanghai. The Shanghai way of doing things is not necessarily bad, it is just different than a way that an American would expect.
The perception of China in the eyes of many Americans is not a completely accurate representation of what life is like. Sure, there are issues with the way the government handles certain circumstances but there are issues with all governments and has yet to be a perfect government. Some are better than others, America's constitutional republic is the best to date (IMO), but all have bad aspects. There are also many 'walls' that are coming down in China as the society continues to open up it borders. For example, there are thousands of 'protests' that the Chinese people conduct each day - so many that the media doesn't cover them.
This blog will illustrate differences in our American way of doing things to the Shanghai, China way and various other experiences of being an expatriot in Shanghai, 2012. Stay tuned for topics covering at least the following:
- Bloggers background
- Piracy- movies, Legos, software, books, technology
- The Bubble- expat living area
- Shopping- grocery stores, wet markets, technology malls, fake market
- Working- 7/11, lack of process and efficiency
- Carless- taxis, metro, biking
- Driving- whoever gets there first, slow drivers, fast drivers, no seat belts
- Smoking- everywhere, indoors, no one told them that it causes cancer
- Language- lots of signing, must learn it
- Grocery stores- what they sell, prices
- Bargaining- an art form, a way of life
- Dinners- many courses, the food never stops, drinking
- Houses- the expat allowance, location, Jinqaio, mansions
- Massages- need to have one before write about it
- Schools - International and local
- Walking- no yielding from right turns or bikes and scooters
- Growth of Shanghai- last 20 years, still growing, everything new
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