Hawkers coax passerby to fruit wagons set up over dusty asphalt. Plumes of smoke are ejected over their heads from factories in monotonous wisps. Welders working in the womb of a skyscraper’s foundation toil heedlessly under the ashy blanket that shrouds the sky. Another day in the auspicious showpiece metropolis of Shanghai? No, not this time. …
Category: China
Dispatches from beyond the Great Firewall
Chinese Commuters Encouraged to be “Civilized” (文明)
Whistles blow as volunteers wearing blue visors and carrying placards instruct commuters in Shanghai’s hectic People’s Square station to let passengers out of trains first before jostling their way in. Shanghai, considered the world’s most populated city proper (Source: Wikipedia), will further stretch its population capacity when the city is bombarded with visitors of the 2010 …
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Playing the ‘Big Nose,’ Zhejiang province
A portion of the following article was originally published in the Global Times. --- The coarse sweater was making him visibly uncomfortable, further forcing him to squirm in his chair like a student avoiding the questioning gaze of a professor. He paused, unsure of how to start the introduction -- more for linguistic reasons than …
Touchdown in Asia’s Modern Metropolis, Hong Kong
Small fishing village turned site of political melee between imperial Britain and dynastic China, modern Hong Kong now conjures up images of opulent, super-sleek skyscrapers and densely packed causeways buttressed by verdant peaks. Truly Asia’s modern metropolis, Hong Kong offers a range of sensational treats ranging from your most metropolitan soirees to tropical beaches. A …
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Fear and Loathing in Macau
Down the cobblestone alley, a block from the ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a heavy-set British woman is being served a Portuguese egg tart by a Chinese street vendor. The air perfumes of pork cutlets that transcend slowly up towards the yellow- and white-trimmed colonial building at the base of a manicured hillside. It is neither …
Justin Calderón 