Scavenger Hunt

1.) Getting a Chinese Seal

While Ling and I were exploring the Yu Yuan Garden area, we got name seals. Inside the tourist mart were lots of places to get chops. When we arrived, we picked out which chop we wanted and the girl then went into the back for a little bit to work on the chop. After a few minutes, she reemerged with a finished seal. After watching other people get their chops, I learned there are two main ways the sales people carve into the chops, with a chiseling tool or a knife.

2.) Eating at a Fast Food Restaurant: McDonalds

 In Shanghai, Izzy and I ate at a McDonalds after one of the walking tours. The McDonalds was located in a food court area of the mall we were in. The McDonalds was very clean and there seemed to be a wide range of people eating there: middle-aged men alone, families, mothers with young kids, teenagers/young adults. When we visited Hong Kong, we ate at a McDonalds inside the Bank of America Tower. The McDonalds inside the Bank of America Tower had many more business people in suits inside, probably because many of them were coming off work. There were not as many families in the Hong Kong McDonalds either, in comparison to the one in Shanghai. Another difference I noticed was that the HK McDonalds had a McCafe counter that was separate from the main counter. Whereas, in Shanghai, all products were ordered at the main counter.

3.) Visiting a Shrine/Temple: Jade Buddha Temple vs. Po Lin Monastery

     

In Shanghai, we went to visit the Jade Buddha Temple. When we went, it was rainy and not many people, locals or tourists, were even there. Inside each “hall” were intricate Buddha statues and many people were praying in front of them. In HK, we went to visit the Po Lin Monastery, a Buddhist Monastery located in the hills of Lantau Island. At the Monastery, the colors were brighter, with flowers everywhere and fountains. One difference I noticed between the two were the colors, the colors of the Jade Buddha Temple were much darker. Whereas, at the Po Lin Monastery, the colors were bright and the hues more diverse. Also, the Jade Buddha Temple had people actually praying in front of the statues, whereas, at the Po Lin Monastery, it was almost all tourists.

4.) Visit a Museum: China Art Museum 

 

While in Shanghai, we went to visit the China Art Museum, home to a digital exhibit called “Along the River During the Qingming Festival.” The painting by the same name was painted centuries ago. A few years ago, an artist used the painting as inspiration and animated the people inside it. The exhibition was a giant screen down a long hallway and simply showed off an animated version of the original painting. It was an amazing exhibit because, along with the animation, the artist had also coordinated the music/sounds to fit each section of the painting, which really made me feel like I was really strolling along the river during the festival.

5.) A photo of an animal: ECNU cat

While walking around the ECNU campus, I was so happy to see all the cats. They seemed very well taken care of. However, I feel that the students and faculty are so used to seeing them that they rarely pet them. They were all over the place, running across the walkways, through the shrubs, and sitting by the door at the International Student dorm.

6.) Man Tung Road Park

While trying to figure out how to get to Tian Tan Buddha, we walked through Man Tung Road Park. It was such a beautiful day out and the trees created the perfect canopy of coolness. Something that I noticed, that was very different from the parks I’d been in while in Shanghai was that there were lots of kids there and a playground. In China, I hadn’t seen many parks with playgrounds until coming to HK.

7.) Getting crammed into a Japanese railcar

It was quite an experience, especially as someone who is super short. I think it is amazing how so many people try to cram into those railcars, even when they already look full. Also, it is amazing to me that many of those on those railcars are commuters who experience that kind of discomfort everyday. The upside of the JR system is that all the trains are extremely clean, unlike the ones in Chicago. In Chicago, the trains smell very bad and have lots of garbage in them.

8.) Cat Cafe – Mocha, a cat cafe in Shibuya

While in Shibuya, we went to a cat cafe. Before coming to Japan, I had heard about the animal cafes, but still wasn’t really sure what to expect. At Cafe Mocha, there were lots of fluffy cats in this penthouse type room and they had beverages too. While the cats were super cute, a lot of them didn’t really interact with visitors and honestly probably didn’t care that we were there. Every time I petted a cat, I always felt bad because I felt like I was disturbing their nap. Overall though, I’m glad I went.

Shanghai Field Notes

My first walk focused on Lu Xun, China’s Mark Twain. During the tour, we walked through Lu Xun Park, saw Lu Xun’s Mausoleum and Museum, and one of Shanghai’s historical concessions. Before going on the walking tour, I already had a little bit of background knowledge on Lu Xun through my Chinese history class last year. In that class, I had learned about Lu Xun’s biographical background and read “Diary of a Madman” and “The True Story of Ah-Q.” But, until the walking tour, I had never really known the magnitude of Lu Xun’s popularity in China.

What I was taught in my history class was that Lu Xun’s “leftist” works were not well received by the ruling Chinese government at the time, the Guomindang. As the tour guide stated, the opposing party, the Communists, began to use Lu Xun’s works to their own political advantage. However, Lu Xun himself never aligned with the Communist Party. I found that to be an interesting tidbit of information because despite his works being used to justify Communist ideas, Lu Xun himself never identified as a Communist.

Another interesting and kinda surprising part of the Lu Xun tour was seeing the statues of other “World Literature” figures such as Shakespeare, Dante, and Tolstoy in Lu Xun Park. In the United States, we have heard of the majority of these figures. Yet, almost no one outside of the Asian Studies field/interest has heard of Lu Xun. For me, it highlighted this lack of knowledge and Euro-centric world we as Americans live in. In China, Lu Xun is among these great Western novelists. But for many Americans, Lu Xun doesn’t even show up on the list.

Moving to the second tour, the Digital City, what I found most interesting was how much technologically connected China is, compared to the United States. During the tour, we walked through Jingan Park, walked through a mall, visited XinCheJian, and sat on a roof garden. Something that surprised me was that many Chinese pay with apps such as Alibaba and WeChat. In the United States, many people don’t use such apps either because they are lazy, don’t know how, or see it as an invasion of privacy. However, in China, these apps are so popular that one can virtually use them to pay for any good or service. In America, at least for me growing up, a stigma that China isn’t as developed or lags behind the United States when it comes to technology. Yet, after the tour, it almost felt as if it is the United States that lags behind in the technological innovation department.

On a quicker note, despite hearing the phrase “digital city” a lot in the media and in college, I never really knew what that meant. In my head, I always knew it had something to do with smart devices and technological advancement. But, there was never any real concrete definition. According to Fabien, a digital city is a place that allows citizens to connect to the city via their smart devices, adding a digital/virtual dimension to the physical dimension already in place. One example Fabien mentioned was the use of QR codes around the city that allow a customer to just scan the QR code and go directly to the company’s website. Fabien also mentioned the technological component of Shanghai’s city bikes and that users can use their smart phones to reserve bikes. I just thought it was really cool and wished the US had systems like this.

I also really enjoyed visiting XinCheJian, a work-sharing and innovation space. I had visited a space similar to that in Minneapolis called Coco. I like the idea of it because it allows people to meet up and innovate and create together. I never knew that China also had spaces similar to Coco. I wonder how popular such a space is. It isn’t that popular in the United States, but the people who use the space seem to really enjoy their experiences.

After attending both walking tours,  I could see this sort of divide and struggle between the old and new. Lu Xun wanted China to modernize. Lu Xun’s “The True Story of Ah-Q” examples this notion by portraying Ah-Q as stupid and ignorant, a metaphor for how China would be if it did not modernize. In many ways, as exemplified by the Digital City tour, China has modernized in many ways. Maybe Lu Xun would be proud. However, there will always be this tension between the new and old. For Lu Xun, it was him versus the GMD government. In today’s day and age, it is the current Chinese government, the Communist and the paying apps such as Alibaba. To maintain control over modernization, the Chinese government has forbid such apps from becoming banks. This is just one of the many ways that the tensions between the new and the old have unfolded in China, both today and in the past. 

Shanghai Screen Project

Pizza Hut Advertisement @ Zhongshan Park Stop 

Located in one of Shanghai’s many subway stops, this particular screen can be found at the Zhongshan Park 中山公园 stop. The Zhongshan Park stop is very popular because one can transfer to multiple lines there, thus there is a lot of foot traffic. Everyone who rides the train has somewhere to be and is thus often checking their phone for the time, looking at the giant subway map, or waiting to meet up with friends/family.

The screen changed every few seconds and showed multiple ads for different companies. One of the ads I was able to capture was this Pizza Hut 必胜客 ad. On the screen, a viewer is able to see an old time Chinese-styled painting, but with pizza in it. As one can tell, the screen was super tall and took the majority of the wall. This screen is located near the stairs of an interchange for Line 2. Views are invited by the screen’s bright colors, delicious looking food, and pretty Chinese watercolor background. Thus, even though this screen was large and has the ability to capture people’s attention, it failed to do so. When observing people pass the sign, they rarely looked up at the sign. The sign was built to inform the public of Pizza Hut’s pizza and products, particularly the Chinese public because of the Chinese watercolor-theme. Pizza Hut probably chose the location because it allows thousands of people to pass the sign. Yet, it fails to deliver. From my observations, it seemed that most people were wrapped up in making it to their train than taking their time to read the screens. Therefore, I believe that the specific context of this Pizza Hut’s screen ad has a big sway over the screen’s effectiveness in informing the Chinese public. Since it is located right near an interchange, many people become more preoccupied with making sure they make it to their destination, rather than reading the screen. While it isn’t to say that no one reads it, I believe that more people would read it if it were located in a place that allows people to relax more, thus having more time to look around.

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Small televisions on the subway car

These two photos were taken while riding the subway. The screen I chose to focus on was the one inside the train on the little televisions. In each train car, there are 2 small screens with public service announcements and safety videos. The videos are pretty consistent across train cars and lines. The information on the screens, I believe, was created for the purpose of informing the public of the correct safety procedures and occasionally ads. However, it is good to note that the information on the screen was also approved by the appropriate governmental authorities since it would be seen by a large amount of the population.

The videos are pretty easy to understand and want people to engage by watching. However, this is not what always happened. Those who owned their own smart devices rarely ever looked at the screen, since they had a screen of their own that allows them to view whatever they want. The folks who owned smart devices were usually young to middle aged people. The folks who seemed to pay attention to the screens most were foreigners/visitors and the elderly locals. It almost seemed to me as if there was a battle of the screens. One cannot really watch both. For those who owned smart phones, these screens were simply a small and easily ignorable part of riding the subway.