Shanghaied

If you ever get to visit Shanghai you will certainly reformat your points of reference and perhaps delete “lumpiang shanghai” or spring rolls and the term “Shanghaied” because they unfairly misrepresent what the city is all about.

The only reason “Shanghaied” was used as an expression for kidnapping was because of a severe shortage of seamen or boat crew in the 1800’s. To fill the roster, Crimps or today’s version of human traffickers would go around town looking for able bodied men, either convince them, get them drunk, or simply knock them unconscious and put them on board waiting ships many of which headed for Shanghai to pick up cargo.

As you drive into Shanghai, on a cool and sometimes cold April day, the first visual overload you will experience is the fact that the architecture is not typically “Chinese”. In fact Shanghai is more European than it is Asian, but it is also very new as it is very old.

The only dead giveaway is the swarm of Chinese people that crowd the streets and alley ways, either rushing to work, hawking some article, smoking (they maybe the heaviest smokers in the world) or shout-talking since they seem to always communicate in the loudest of voices.

In fact if you observe closely, people “shout-talking” seems to generate more noise than honking horns.

I noticed that even if the drivers in Shanghai use and destroy their horns faster than Filipino drivers do, there seems to be a rule around here that you can only use government approved horns. So no matter how much they all honk their horns, it is not as irritating as Metro Manila.

Perhaps it’s about time that the DOTC did something for their part.

Another thing I noticed was that in our whole week of moving around Shanghai, I never once saw a policeman with a gun. I did notice one or two men in black who seemed to pay particular attention to our group, but certainly no guns.

I guess Mao Tse Tung’s big words that “Political power comes from the barrel of a gun” has now been replaced.

Shanghai may be part of a communist country but it makes Rodeo drive look like a garage sale. Never have I seen more Louis Vuitton outlets, Hermes, Prada, Jaguar, Porsche, Maseratti, etc., from glorified 168 shopping malls to world- class venues. So now, Chairman Cito muses that political power comes from manufacturing all the trinkets the world wants to buy.

But all that glitz and seeming glamour can be very deceiving. A week walking around crowded streets will either turn you into a pulp or send you home black and blue. The locals don’t think much of personal space or avoiding on-coming human traffic, they walk straight and oblivious to the fact that they just dislocated your shoulder or caused you to drop all your belongings. “Manners” is a word that applies to very different things in “Shanghai”.

If you love to haggle, bargain, and drive the sales people crazy, Shanghai is just the place for you. Bring a VERY BIG calculator, a ton of patience and a boatload of cash. But most important of all come ready with a thick face and shameless bargaining attitude because you will need it. 

It takes five to 10 minutes to haggle over every item and their list price is usually four to five times. If the sales person acts desperate or pushy, it does not make them a bad person, they simply see you as a fish on their hook and they don’t want to let you go because the sharks down the corridor or down the street will start offering you 25 percent off.

But there was a lesson to be learned on this “Motoring trip” courtesy of Foton Motor Corporation.

During the traditional city tour, we came upon a towering figure of a man I mistakenly thought of as the young Chairman Mao. But our guide told us that the statue was of Chen Yi, who was a former mayor of Shanghai and whom they now look up to as a hero.

Can you just imagine that in the Philippines? A city mayor achieving genuine hero status? But there before us was the monument to the man who managed the socialization of Shanghai, eradicate vice and prostitution, was removed from office during the Cultural Revolution and then later hailed as a national hero.

So far all we actually have in the Philippines for mayors are characters. Good or bad, they become feared or faulted because of character but so far no modern day mayor heroes.

The second eye opener for me was when our tour crossed over to the Pu Dong side, which they call the “future of Shanghai”. There before us was a modern city both in planning and architecture. There you will find the third tallest building in the world. But what was amazing as we viewed this completely developed metropolis was the fact that it only took 20 years!

Lesson three is that in order for a nation to develop, even the Philippines, we must have institutions, the same way China has the “Party” to insure the continuity of our visions and our plans. The Philippines fails because we put our trust in men who rule for the moment and then step down or die.

The last and sad lesson I learned is that “comrade” is now an empty word.

I saw with my own eyes, the elderly, the weak, the poor, scrounging from garbage can to garbage can, hoping to find something worth selling. Yes, even in a nation of comrades, there is economic injustice.