Chinese scroll painting, known today in Chinese as guóhuà (meaning "national" or "native painting") is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. The earliest known works were done thousands of years ago, and the idea might have originated with painted banners meant to hang in tombs. Artists use fine brushes and water-based inks or paints, made by hand from pigments (dry materials like minerals that provide color) that the artists ideally grind themselves.
My impressions of Shanghai have been presented below juxtaposed on these thematic section-starter art-scrolls.
The city restaurants I visited for dining had numerous rooms accommodating 10-12 members each, giving vent to the private chats of its members. Whilst having a contemporary & grand look overall, the setting of the rooms & the traditional Sichuan opera Bian Lian dance on display in public areas spoke of the bias towards the cultural roots – after all, walls, demarcating areas of privacy & protecting the native lifestyle from external influence, have never been new in this part of the globe.
Even the local food, be it the concoction of self-picked veggies forming the Ma La Xiang Guo hot-pot or the Chinese mitten / hairy crabs as a local cuisine delicacy or for that matter Huangjiu, the yellow wine served hot with chopped ginger, reflected the significant traditional influence and deep-rooted connect with all that’s indigenous.
Stretching beyond the culinary scene, the customary Chinese signature in a significantly unique style was evident right from the early morning recreation activities by the seniors in public parks characterized by localized Chinese yo-yo diabolo tricks and tai-chi exercises up until the traditional Chinese medicine aisles across drug stores during evening market visits.
Despite such a time-honoured cultural scenario, the horsepower and global advantage China has gained on the manufacturing & trading aspects has been mind-blowing, evident in the seamless plant facilities visited as well as the omnipresent CIIE mascot Jin Bao that welcomed partners from the WTO & UN to its annual autumn venue at the airport.
The virtual trade visits to the home-grown digital technology, e-commerce & high-tech analytics giants Alibaba & Jing Dong, only made the accelerated horsepower of this part of the orient even more accentuated, evidently putting these new-age behemoths in the driver’s seat of setting the tone for most consumer categories.
The authoritarian 'one-child' policy had been at the center of driving the dragon’s recent economic prosperity with a single heir to the resources of not only 2 parents, but also 4 grand-parents. The disposable income was further quadrupled by the housing boom making property ownership even more dear and hence the openness to consumer spending on high-end categories & premium western brands, with China accounting for a 3rd of the global luxury market; evident with popular cafe's like Starbucks opening up reserve bars to add fuel to the aspiration-hungry appetite as well as brands pricing up their offerings & introducing limited edition packs to meet the consumer ambitions for exclusivity. Affluent millennial's’ individualistic impulses aptly find expression in what/ how much they buy, given the relatively restrictive expression possible in the otherwise political environment they inhabit.
Seeped in local culture, seeking a unique self-expression through adoption of opulent western labels fueled by recently-found prosperity & inheritance; all this, without an overt abomination of the larger repressive milieu which has enabled this newly-discovered magnificence, was how Shanghai marked its first impression.
Epilogue:
I firmly believe each city carries its own individual fragrance and my attempt has been to appreciate each for its own characteristic aroma – an objective & non-biased olfactory sense only adds to weaving a part of ourselves into the space of the larger society that these varied cities inhabit; enabling, in the process, our personal selves to stretch longer, broader and grow into larger, more inclusive beings.
Personally, the impressions gathered across the 3 cities within the short 10-day duration shall go a long way in shaping my perspectives in an empathetic, inclusive way.
Articles on the 3 cities - Tokyo, Seoul & Shanghai have been captured from various lens with some even comparing and ranking among the three-some (much to my dislike). Links to few more subject-specific articles on the 3 cities as below for reference:
Architecture: https://www.pascalgreco.com/seoul-shanghai-tokyo/
-----------xx Happy Impressions! Thank You! xx----------
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