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Once again I spent this Chinese New Year with Zoe and her family–on both the eve of the New Year (大年夜) and the second day of the New Year (初二), the family met at the home of Zoe’s youngest uncle (youngest of 6 children that is) at about noon and stayed until after dinner. Actually, I’m not sure that the eating ever stops from lunch through dinner … it’s sort of like a uni-meal where everyone stays happily stuffed throughout the day.

The closeness of Zoe’s family on these occasions is really wonderful. This year I got a picture of the group, all 24 family members who came over that day, representing four generations. Pretty amazing!



Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous Dragon New Year!

龙年行大运！

After taking a break from running for the better part of the 1.5 months post Beijing Marathon, my friend Oliver and I decided last minute to do the Shanghai Half Marathon (for the hell of it). And so we went out for the 21km run on this clear and very cool day in Shanghai. Perhaps because of the lack of training (or maybe it was the heavy meal I ate the night before), I got a nasty side cramp at about the 14km mark and had to push through it almost to the end. Nevertheless, I still managed to break 1 hour and 50 minutes (barely). Oliver was in better form and finished about four minutes earlier. The greatest highlights of the race were starting on The Bund (with 26,000 others) and running over the Nanpu Bridge. Perhaps I’ll do the full marathon next year.



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The freshwater “hairy” crab (大闸蟹) is a (probably THE most prized) delicacy in Shanghai … and the Shanghainese LOVE their crabs!!! The most famous and sought after crabs come from Yangcheng Lake (阳澄湖) and can fetch upwards of RMB 700 ($110) per kilogram. Keep in mind that these are little (small enough to fit in your palm) crabs, so that’s a lot to shell out for the tasty morsels that require a decent amount of work to extract. But they are indeed TASTY morsels, particularly the female roe.

This year I enjoyed the first feast of the crab season (Autumn) with Zoe and her parents at their home.

Zoe and her parents enjoying a feast of hairy crab.

Shanghai is one of the largest and most metropolitan cities on the planet … no surprise there.  What might surprise some, however, is the increasing appetite of local Chinese for the trappings of foreign cultures.  A great example of this is the increasing popularity of Latin dancing in Shanghai.  Below are pictures and a video clip from a Tango party that attracted over 100 people (both Chinese and foreigners) at 10pm on a Sunday night.  The video is of Buenos Aires Tango masters (Laila & Leandro Oliver) who were invited to teach and perform in China (Shanghai and Beijing).  Absolutely beautiful, and what wonderful energy at this Milonga!!!

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Boys’ Night had a nostalgic twist this week. The Eagles (including Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy Schmit), the top-selling US rock band of the 1970s that proved it could still produce Grammy award winning hits as recently as 2007, made its China debut at the new Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. And Shanghai welcomed them with open arms, packing the arena with about 15,000 fans, most of them Chinese, and many if not most of them born long after the band was formed in 1971. Not counting the migrant worker population, that number represents about 1 person in every 1,000 in Shanghai.


So, why such enthusiasm for these 60-something rockers? My best guess is that at least in part it’s because “Hotel California” remains one of the most popular English-language karaoke songs in China. Whatever the reason, the reality is that Eagles tickets sold for about 50% more than tickets to see Usher (a 32-year-old R&B superstar) at the same arena this weekend. Go figure.


In any case, it was a great show. As the band played Desperado for their last encore, we knew that this night would go down in the annals of our Shanghai adventures …



If one didn’t know better they might believe that WW3 had started in Shanghai, but the reality is that this was only the usual turn of events on the eve of day five (大年初五) of the Chinese New Year. It is believed that the fifth day is the birthday of the God of Wealth and the best way to get his attention (and good favor in the coming year) is to welcome him with fireworks … LOTS OF FIREWORKS!!! This year I captured the deafening scene on video from the balcony of my apartment (see below).



It seems that Shanghai is becoming more and more like most major cities in the world (albeit like most of those cities on steroids). At no time of the year is this illustrated more than on Christmas. Here I am in a country that is about 4% Christian and yet Christmas decorations are everywhere. Yes, most shopkeepers are just looking for a way to make an extra buck, and probably have no idea what Christmas is (see the first picture below–note the upside down “Merry Christmas”–as an illustration). All commercial cynicism aside, however, what’s wrong with young Chinese families (as well as some older ones) getting together, exchanging gifts, and supporting the local economy. And they do come out in force to support the local economy!


I have been asked many many times by Chinese friends whether Christmas is the same in the West as their Chinese New Year (春节). Over and over again I have explained that January 1 is the beginning of the “Western” new year. Only this year did I finally figure out the source of the confusion. It seems that Westerners created the confusion in the first place because whenever we say “Merry Christmas,” we always add, “and a Happy New Year.” Of course, there are still several similarities between the way Christmas is celebrated in primarily Christian countries and the way that CNY is celebrated in China (e.g., family members returning home, big feasts, exchanging of gifts, etc.).


So, I still don’t expect many Chinese to understand the significance of Kenneth the elf, who Best Buy brought to Shanghai (see last picture below). But the Christmas lights and decorations throughout this city do create a wonderfully festive spirit. Happy Holidays!!! (Next I have to try to explain Hanukkah to my Chinese friends…)



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Imagine a beautiful collage of musical genres (both Western and Chinese) performed on a contemporary Bauhaus-inspired water-permeated stage with a centuries old Chinese village (replete with chanting monks) as a backdrop.  Difficult to imagine?  Well, this is the show (Water Heavens 水乐堂) that Academy Award winning composer Tan Dun (of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero fame) created and brought to life in Shanghai’s ZhuJiaJiao (朱家角) ancient water town.  It was a truly magical experience!  And, thanks to my friends Corbett & Irene, we were able to see the premier.  :-)


While I don’t have any music clips to share here (too bad), these pictures will at least give you some sense of just how unique and inspired Tan Dun’s work is …



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I recently discovered one of the more fun ways to explore Shanghai at night … a group of us rented bicycles and took to the streets at about 10pm on a Saturday night.  We rode from the French Concession to the Bund and back, winding through several local streets and alleys, crossing bridges inside Yu Gardens, slaloming around people on the Bund boardwalk, and racing through People’s Square along the way.  What a great time, and we got a bit of exercise to boot!

Thanks to Sabrina for organizing and to Bato Wu of Cycle China for being an excellent guide.  After living here for five years, I love the fact that there is always more to discover in the incredible city.

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Well, I think I’m feeling a little more Chinese now …

It all started with one of the worst pinched nerves ever.  It got worse throughout the day to the point where I could barely move … in a taxi every bump in the road was excruciating, and, by the time I laid down to try to sleep, even staying still was painful.  The next day, after a sleepless night, my friend Anthony (a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor who specializes in tui na (推拿), Chinese therapeutic massage) took me to see one of his doctor friends at a local hospital not far from my home.  Dr. Li specializes in acupuncture or zhen jiu (针灸) in Chinese.

The treatment started with a quick ba guan (拔罐) or fire cupping session on my back, which left the area (right upper back and shoulder) quite red.  Then the needles were inserted one by one.  To be honest, I didn’t feel much pain with most of the needles (mostly just a little pressure), but the one on the right side of my neck hurt like a @$#&%.  Then she attached wires and started running very low electrical current which made the muscles twitch a bit … not a big deal.  After 15 minutes of lying there, the needles were removed and I could immediately feel some improvement.  Over the next few hours my range of motion (without pain) came back to about 80%, and I was 100% again within days.  Honestly, I was not sure what to expect when I went for the treatment (although I certainly trusted my friend).  Now I am a true believer … it works!

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Yup, crawfish is one of the local favorite dishes in Shanghai and (while you can find them all year round) Summer is the season.  Unlike in New Orleans, you won’t find them in etouffee or jambalaya … here they are cooked in the shell so as not to deprive the eater of the “pleasure” of peeling them. OK, you guessed it, working to get crawfish (or for that matter crab or shrimp) meat out of the shell is not my favorite part, but in the case of these little guys it is certainly worth it.  Spicy and aromatic with plenty of garlic both in the marinade and the vinegar-based dipping sauce, they are awesome.

With my friend Jean (who used to live in China) visiting from the UK, we had occasion to go to ShouNing Road (寿宁路), a very local Shanghai food street (think street food) that is famous for crawfish or xiao long xia (小笼下) as they are called in Chinese.  The grilled oysters and scallops are also wonderful.  :-)

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… Well, not really, but it almost looked that way. On the eve of the opening of the Shanghai Expo, we were down at the Bund waiting to see a huge fireworks display (or at least that’s what we thought). Unfortunately, the bulk of the fireworks were shot off all around the city (and out of our site) … it seems that the best seats for viewing were in living rooms with TVs. Nevertheless, we did see first hand the spectacular display from the Oriental Pearl Tower.