A Hard-Working People: Small Enterprises, Sunday Escapes

Life abounds with contradictions, and that's true of China as well.  (As with this blog: we flew out of Shanghai Monday morning, arriving back home when it was still Monday evening in Minnesota but Tuesday in Shanghai, after crossing the international date line--and are readjusting slowly to our conventional lives.  But for the purposes of this blog, I'm going to write as if we are still in China--which in some ways we still feel like we might be, encountering Minnesota as a little strange.)

One contradiction in China is that it's an officially communist state, with part of the economy state owned and controlled.  On the other hand, everyday folks often seem engaged in what can only be seen as very entrepreneurial or market activities, often in the form of small businesses like storefront cafes or vegetable stands, or sometimes scavenging for recyclable materials to sell.  Such activities seem widespread, at least in our experience walking the streets and side-streets; one gets the impression that in China there might be more people working for themselves, or at least with their family or a few friends, than working for a more formal, large-scale organization or employer.

In the photo to the right, we're walking down a typical "older" style street, something dating from the first half of the 20th century.  The housing is apartment style (we didn't see any single houses in Shanghai outside some of the wealthier areas, such as the heart of the old French Concession), two to three stories high, with small shops and businesses on the street level, and living areas above ("living" is apparent: one might see folks hanging their morning washing on the porches above, or sometimes brushing their teeth or otherwise getting ready for the day: "private" and "public" seem to overlap more than back home).

To the left we we see an even smaller shop, where the man in orange is making small "manti" (a sort of dumpling), steamed in the stacked bamboo-wicker baskets.  There are also hard-boiled eggs in the white container towards the bottom of the picture, cooked in black tea (this makes a nice pattern in the egg, but also lends a distinctive taste).

Part of what impressed us is that such shops are often set up early in the day.  We might see people unloading the delivery of a day's supply of vegetables to sell (these are small shops, with little storage area), to catch customers walking by starting around 7:00.  This also means the small delivery trucks, or sometimes heavily-loaded motorbikes, are also starting their rounds early.  People who sell food are shaping the dough for their dumplings, or chopping ingredients, or getting the cooking plate or pot heated up.  And many of these shops are still open in the evening, often not shutting down until mid-evening (there's a lot of street life in Shanghai, unlike Minneapolis, where you can still be wading through the crowds after dark.)

So, small shopkeepers work long hours, and many shops seem open every day.  They depend on selling a high volume of relatively inexpensive products over a long day, as near as we can tell.  (The photo at right shows "our" own street around mid-evening: remember that because Shanghai is only half the distance as is Minneapolis from the equator, the sun is actually setting earlier, around 7:00--which also, by the way, means the Ramadan fasting required for local Muslims in Shanghai is for a shorter "day" than in more northern latitudes.  But I digress.)

Daily deliveries of supplies for small shops (less needed for clothing shops, most needed for food suppliers--local people like their fruits and vegetables fresh and are fussy and knowledgeable).  Cooked food is usually cooked right in front of you (for take-away) or right when you order (to be eaten at one of several small tables set up for the day for a very small shop, or for one of 4-6 "inside" tables for a little larger one).  But all this means there is stuff to be gotten rid of--cardboard boxes, for one thing, which we see being loaded on a motorbike cart (with a large flat surface in back) by an enterprising recycler, a daily task.

There are a few garbage bins, and it's picked up from time to time, but there's really no room for bigger bins (the buildings on a side street like the one above are continuous, and the shops already spill out at times almost into the street--so no room for big bins).  There are sometimes narrow allies, but they are often already in use for drying clothes, or parking one's motorbike, or where people may wash up at large square sinks against the wall--so again no room for giant bins for giant trucks to pick up.  Styrofoam is also gathered for recycling, as we see in the photo to the right--piled high (and precariously) on a regular bicycle with a little platform to tie the load to above the rear wheel.

Metal is also sometimes recycled, in this photo stacked high on a small motorbike's shelf, and driven carefully into traffic; it usually is found at remodeling or construction sites, rather than part of everyday recycling opportunities.  Wood is the fourth material one sees piled high and pedaled away.

And so, by the evening's end, the small shops have usually closed (except for popular take-out food stands), things are tided up, doors or gates have been pulled shut, and the (weary) proprietors are hoping for a good night's sleep.

What do local families do to relax?  It's possible that for some small shopkeepers there are few days off, as they rely on long hours and volume sales.  But I did find crowds at the Shanghai Zoo on Father's Day (also celebrated in China), which "costs" time but not much money (though it would be hard to take the kids and not get snacks and little stuffed Pandas).  Here we see a father and son watching the pandas; the kids are loving it, while the pandas seem oblivious to our excitement at seeing them eat their bamboo shoots.  They're large and cuddly-looking, but seem primarily interested in eating.

I liked the zoo.  It's mostly about the big, "standard" animals: giraffes, big brown bears, alligators, lions and tigers, along with the must-see pandas, with few interpretative materials (especially anything in English).  But it does also have a lot of great parkland, bamboo "forests," and lakes with bird species I hadn't seen before.  And lots of pretty adorable kids, having a good time with their parents and grandparents.  I'm hoping that the shopkeepers and noodle-sellers and vegetable sellers also have time to get to the zoo once in a while.


 It does seem unlikely that they would have the time and enough money to get to the new Disney theme park, which just opened last week near Shanghai.  There've been loads of advertisements for it (which you can see in the Metro stations, for example), one of which you can see below.  The entry costs are high, and of course there are meals and souvenirs to buy to take home.  The only family we met who were going was one we met at our hotel, at breakfast, who were from out of town, staying for a couple of days, and very excited, especially the kids.  But you'll note in the ad the family looks rather "successful" and implicitly middle-class.  And rather "Western" in stylish sports/play outfits (paradoxically, most likely made in China!), and rather "white" in color (common in a lot of clothing advertisements for women, though skin "whitening" creams seem less common in Shanghai than we've seen elsewhere in China, or I in India).

 With this, we conclude a rather long posting!  Stay tuned for a couple more, as we complete our travels in Shanghai in our head and memories, even though we are now back home!