12/8/25
Wanting to explore the west of the city we took a train to Xujiahui. A large catholic cathedral with familiar looking spires was based there. Our attempt to go in was thwarted by Frankie’s shorts. Nearby there was a weather museum, stupidly we thought it wouldn’t be a popular attraction. As a security card popped out to tell us we couldn’t enter because reservations had to be made a week in advance, a man asked us if we needed help.
‘Jack’ was born in a city around an hour away and now lived in the city. What made Jack special to us was that he spoke English very well, and wasn’t old. Desperate to clear up some observations we set about picking his brain. He’d never even been to Beijing, let alone the rest of China, but had travelled all over Europe. Thus he knew things he shouldn’t. Everyone young does. They’re just too scared to speak outside close friend groups just in case someone snitches.
In no particular order our discussion waded through:
There is no other messaging app available. Jack was reluctant to say he didn’t like it. QQ is another option that teenagers favour. Of course they’re both owned by the same company. Jack uses WhatsApp to talk to foreign friends, but it’s complicated to access with a VPN.
Sugar
Desserts lack sugar in China. According to Jack it’s because eating sugar isn’t a comfortable mouth feel and you can’t eat as much. Drinking is their way of consuming sugar.
Drink shops
There were an inexplicable number of different brands of drink shop. Having a drink in your hand was socially vital, apparently. Young girls didn’t know what else to with their hands. And it was the trendy thing to do.
Israel
Chinese news outlets projected the view that “Israel is evil”. Funnily enough, having been exposed to western media, Jack saw things more “neutrally”. Classic centrist rubbish of seeing things from both sides. Bombing a country to hell and starving the citizens to steal their land, because “god said it was mine”, was hardly something to see from both sides. But hey, it’s probably more of an interesting insight into how the media can skew minds into what’s reasonable. Overton window stuff.
Climate change
China has been appallingly hot. The temperature has almost universally been several degrees above average. No different to anywhere in Europe. Jack hasn’t noticed. “It was always like this.” The boiled frog effect or “hypernormalisation” is real.
We exchanged contact information with Jack. Maybe he’d come and visit one day.
Xujiahui Library was right next door with a flood of cold air enticing us in. Incredible architecture made it a favourite among instagram people who posed with all the shelves. If a perfectly designed library exists, it was this one.
Known as the French Concession, several roads and areas boasted colonial architecture. Wukang Road was lined with plane trees and began with the Wukang building, where hundreds of people stood taking pictures. We couldn’t help but be underwhelmed. Despite having grown up amongst far prettier ourselves, we could kind of understand the appeal for Chinese people. If our own house was here, it would be a tourist attraction. That was something to be really grateful for.
Jumping on a bus we headed to a recommended attraction. Hidden in a large multistory office building, there was no signage outside, was the Propaganda Art museum. The only one of its kind in China. ‘Big character’ posters as they’re known, were a mix of political and cartoon. Similar to cartoons in modern newspapers. They’re typical ‘communist era’ artworks. The museum was of course licensed and by no means operated under the radar, but it wasn’t heavily publicised either. There were only tourists inside, including a friendly boy from Newark who had Chinese heritage. Jonathan’s favourite poster was one showing the Tibetan people welcoming the PLA. Sadly, most posters were sent to the paper recycling museum once Deng Xiaoping became paramount leader and introduced market economics to China.
Intrigued by photos of Jing’an temple we went to take a look. Not fancying the entrance fee we briefly observed from a walkway, then took the metro Zhongshan Park to eat at another branch of our favourite vegan buffet, Su Man Xiang. This one was slightly more cult like and the staff would occasionally preach over the microphone to the many guests. Of course we had no clue what they were saying.
On our way out of the mall complex we noticed there was an Aldi inside. Unable to resist a peek we nosed around. Sadly they didn’t sell liebküchen, but they did have lots of European style bread and cheap organic walnuts.
Still on a whistle stop tour of the city, and after dark, we visited the City God Temple. Misled by the opening hours, what we actually found wasn’t cultural at all. Rather than a lit up old religious site, we found the new religion of the world. Horrific consumerism. Rows of fake old buildings housing shops. The worst type of skeuomorphism. Thousands of people were milling around buying touristy rubbish at inflated prices. Needless to say, we ran away.
Not to anywhere with less people though. Nighttime at The Bund was a classic view. Walking through the dark and quiet Gucheng park, a solitary bat swooshing overhead, we first saw the lights of the towers. One building was essentially an advertising board. Once we arrived on the embankment we were part of the stupidly big crowds. Everyone taking a picture by the railings, pretending there was no one else around them.
The day at a close, and exhausted from walking, we headed to Yuyuan Garden station where we were duly kettled in what was an obvious daily operation to remove the people.
Surly They Won't Make It 