Liuxuesheng's guide to Shanghai

I spent most of my time in Shanghai horribly, hopelessly lost. You probably have a far better sense of direction than I, but perhaps this will help:


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Your way or the subway

Shanghai has a pretty good public transportation system, although the subway closes down at 10 p.m. and even the latest buses stop running before 1 a.m. I would recommend taking the subway

As you'll find out shortly after you arrive, Shanghai is far from pedestrian friendly. Although you can walk pretty much anywhere if you really want to, it requires negotiating overpasses, flyovers and frustrating crosswalk barriers. Become a jaywalker: Everyone else in the city is. And don't expect cars, scooters or bicycles to stop for you. Trust me.

I recommend taking the subway to begin with, as it's easy to navigate and in general will take you where you want to go. The bus system is more comprehensive and can often get to you to specific destinations more expediently, but it's tough to figure out for a waiguoren who can't read the Chinese station names at each bus stop (and who wouldn't know where those were, anyway). If you're trying to get somewhere by bus, ask one of the Fudan students. Or just hop on a bus and get lost.

Something to keep in mind: Chinese people are very aggressive when it comes to public transit. And whereas in Canada people wait for the next train if one is full, in China they don't--they push and scramble on until you're convinced there isn't physically room in your subway car for any more humanity, and then someone else gets on. If you're claustrophobic, avoid the subway during rush hour; on the other hand, this is a great way to people-watch and get a handle on Shanghai's millions of commuters.

Better, scrollable subway map here.

Harmonize this

You may see this screen a lot. I definitely did.

Yes, the Interwebs are censored in China. It's annoying. Chinese web-users call this "harmonization," after Hu Jintao's standing promise to promote a "harmonious society." Good times, no?

Even more annoying is that this censorship is really inconsistent. Yes, any sites related to Tibetan independence, Uyghur independence, Taiwanese independence (or the Chinese government, for that matter) and Falun Gong are censored. But some human rights sites load and others don't; almost all English-language media websites load, but Wordpress blogs don't. Indian government websites don't load. Sometimes YouTube works, sometimes it doesn't. Keep in mind this crazy, 300-milllion-computer censorship party is run by Party members who don't really have clear instructions on what they're looking for, and will often block things entirely arbitrarily.

Before I left, I thought the queensu proxy would allow me to see censored websites because the proxy server was blocking my IP address. WRONG. You'll be lucky of the queensu proxy lets you into JStor and Factiva.

I know there are firewalls out there you can get--I've heard good things about HotSpot Shield--but for some reason I could never get them to work for me. I chalk it up to my own incompetence.

One added annoyance you'll notice is that after searching for something that pisses off the censors

But you should be able to do all the research you need to do without too much hardship. Worst comes to worst, "The Net Nanny ate my homework" can be a fun excuse.

In the dragon's head: Life in Shanghai

Shanghai is a crazy and incredible city. It's also hyperbolically overwhelming: It has a population roughly two-thirds the size of Canada and is responsible for more than five per cent of China's gross domestic product.


First off, two things you should know:


1) Shanghai is not beautiful, at least not in the conventional sense. It's enormous and sprawling and crowded and frenetic and pedestrian-unfriendly, filled with traffic and often-less-than-pleasant smells. It can also be scary. Don't let this turn you off: It's a fascinating place.


2) Shanghai is in no way representative of the rest of China. Most of China is rural, and resembles a Pearl S. Buck novel. Shanghai is hyper-urban and vascillates drunkenly between the hyper-modern and hyper-slumlike. It's fascinating in part because of its wholly anachronistic presence in a huge country that, in many ways, is itself an anachronism. So yeah.


Another thing easily overlooked as you stroll, disoriented, from Nanjing Dong Lu through "old Shanghai" to Xintiandi and the French Concession, or as you wander Lujiazui trying not to get run over: Shanghai was never historically important. Far from it. This place was a small, indistinct fishing villate until well into the Qing dynasty. It was dwarfed by Suzhou, several times over.


About 20 years ago the Chinese central government decided to make Shanghai an exception in China--a crazy-big, crazy-powerful economic powerhorse for the rest of the country to follow. Much of the city's most iconic skyscraper neighbourhoods have been set there in the past decade expressly for the purpose of pushing Shanghai forward as a "world-class" city. In many ways, the government has succeeded. The effect(s) this has had on Shanghai's population is something worth exploring when you're there.


One interesting thing about Shanghai as the "dragon's head" of Chinese development is the presence of migrant workers. Like other big cities (Beijing, Shenzhen, etc), Shanghai has become a magnet for people from all over China who come in search of work. There's without doubt a demand for them (or at least there was before the jinrong weiji 金融 危机--the economic crisis), but thanks to a rigid household registration (hukou 户口）system and entrenched xenophobia, they're made to feel distinctly unwelcome by both locals and officials alike. You'll get to watch this bizarre situation play out firsthand, as Beijing and Shanghai's governments are still trying to figure out how to deal with the city's "floating population."

You'll also find, like big cities in many countries, very divergent opinions on Shanghai. Shanghairen, of course, think their city is the greatest of all time and openly look down on people from anywhere else in China as uncultured boors (except Beijingren, whom they regard as political eggheads). The millions of people who move to Shanghai from elsewhere in China, for their part, think Shanghairen are standoffish snobs who only care about money. Have fun negotiating that.

Middle-Kingdom muddlings

Yep--China's a pretty crazy place. I had trouble coming up with things I wish I had known before I went, because the answer is "pretty much everything;" at the same time, there's a lot you can't really figure out until you get there.

First of all, try to parse your own preconceptions. China has a lot of baggage among foreigners, especially Westerners recently waking up to the Middle Kingdom's global clout.

A few things to think about:

• China isn't really communist. Yes, it's ruled by the Communist Party of China (Gongchandang 共产党）and yes, if you ask anyone in charge they'll tell you they're still on the glorious path of a socialist revolution. But when push comes to centrally planned shove, contemporary China's a lot less socialist than Canada (the latter has a public health-care system, for instance, whereas the former is just starting to consider one, given the economic crisis). Keep this in mind when you're faced with a constant barrage of ads and brands in all forms.
• China is, however, really authoritarian. Although officially there are "opposition" parties involved in governance, there's really only one Party, whose decisions are handed down and rubber-stamped at the highest level. Of course, it's never as simple as that: The more Beijing tries to create a centralized government ruling over 1.4 billion people, the more that governance becomes diffused and confused as it moves closer to the local level. This is why many common laws--rules about selling food on the street, for example--are disregarded altogether, until the local police are pressured to make a perfunctory crackdown.
• China takes itself really seriously, and is super-sensitive. To offer a grossly glossed generalization:

Thousands of years as a powerful empire + A century of "humiliation" at the hands of European, American and Japanese powers + Culture that fears "losing face" above almost all else + Country that has risen to crazy-huge prominence and power but in the international community spotlight more than ever before = Extremely patriotic population (and government) extremely hypersensitive to criticism

• Does that kind of make sense? Not really? That's okay--you'll figure it out when you question China's actions or reference a critical Western media report and get the evil eye from whomever you're speaking to. Of course this doesn't mean you shouldn't question China at all; just keep in mind that you'll get a lot farther by asking questions ("What do you think of the way Beijing is handling the economic crisis?" "What do you think should happen with Taiwan?" "Why do you think so many people like the Dalai Lama?") rather than making categorical statements that likely cut a lot deeper than you intend.

One of the most knowledgeable China scholars I've had the chance to speak with is Emily Hill, who's a prof at Queen's. I would recommend bugging her, just because she knows a lot about China and this program, and is surprisingly nice about being asked annoying questions.

This is where you'll study...

Fudan is one of the best universities in China. Third-best, to be exact. I say this not based on surveys or viewbooks but because the government of China really does rate each and every university in a certain order, and Fudan happens to be third from the top. So there you go.


You'll notice, if you travel around China and people ask what you're doing there and where you're going to school, they'll be very impressed when you tell them you're at Fudan Daxue 复旦大学. Be gracious when people compliment you on your studiousness, but keep in mind that it's way, way, way harder for Chinese students to get into Fudan than it was for you to get there (or to get into Queen's, for that matter)--especially if they're from outside Shanghai.



China has a bizarre quota system when it comes to higher education, and it's extremely difficult for students to get into a university outside their home province (once you've been here for a while you'll learn about hukou and other fun stuff, and realize just how far the Chinese government will go to get the stability it craves). Chances are a lot of your fellow Fudan students are from other provinces; to get here, they would have had to be among the top five or 10 students in their entire province. That's kinda crazy.



The Queen's program is both good and bad in that it has little to nothing to do with actual Fudan curricula. Good, in that the courses you take are far more similar to Canadian-style undergraduate courses than just about anything you would find at Fudan; bad, because it means you learn less about the Chinese school system. That said, the profs are good and to a person they're there because they want to do this on top of their regular course-/workload. Keep this in mind before complaining about how busy they seem to be (but don't let it deter you from asking them questions and setting up meetings outside of class if they do have time--these are great opportunities to find out things not discussed in lecture).



Your classes are something between a lecture and a seminar--they're small in size but more closely resemble a lecture than a Queen's seminar. You'll notice right away that the Chinese school system emphasises memorization over critical analysis, and asking questions to the degree we're used to in Canada is unusual. Of course, you should ask questions anyway. But keep in mind your profs--as enlightened and liberal-minded as they are, compared to most other Chinese professors--probably aren't used to being questioned like that. Be nice.

The courseload is fairly light and not unbelievably challenging (especially because it's designed to include people who have never taken a development studies or history course in their lives). It is, however, heavy on the critical thinking and self reflection. Take this shit seriously, otherwise it really isn't worth doing.

...and this is where you'll live

Welcome to your fishbowl.

The Liuxuesheng Gongyu 留学生公寓, or foreign students' residence, is the biggest residence building on campus. It's 15 storeys high and has both single and double rooms; the ones we were staying with came equipped with bathrooms and tiny balconies, which were heavenly and also useful for laundry-hanging purposes.

There are kitchens on either side of the floor, each with a (hopefully functional) washing machine. You can buy washing machine cards from a room on the first floor (past the elevators and down the hall to your left when your back is to the front entrance)--these are pay as you go. Each load of laundry costs about 3 kuai.


There's no wifi; you connect to the Internet via a cable you supply yourself, and you need to buy minutes on a card you can purchase either at a small desk near the front entrance or at the convenience store near the North Campus cafeteria.

Visitors have to sign in at the front desk, and are not allowed in past 11 p.m.

The staff at the front desk are friendly to varying degrees. None of them speak English, which makes your first few days (or weeks) a challenge but is a good incentive to learn Mandarin phrases for, "I forgot my key," "I need an Internet card," "My door is broken," etcetera. Hopefully you won't have to use that last phrase.

Keep in mind: Your accommodations are way nicer than any the Fudan students have. They're almost all sharing their rooms with several people; they don't have heat or air conditioning that you have; they don't have ensuite showers and their shared bathrooms close at a certain time every night. Remember this and try to be nice about it.

I have to be honest: I really didn't enjoy the fishbowl aspect of the dorms. Everyone in your building is foreign and a sense of entitlement and privilege pervades the place. It's a bad place to practice Mandarin or learn more about Chinese culture. That said, your living situation is pretty damn comfortable, and you get out of something like this what you put into it, I suppose.

But what will I EAT?

This is a question almost every (Western) visitor to China asks with trepidation. But really, you have nothing to worry about. Chinese people love food, they love feeding foreigners their food, and Chinese food almost universally kicks a massive amount of ass. Huzzah.


A few quick tips:

• Chinese people don't really understand dietary preferences. I was discussing the Hui Zhu (non-Uyghur ethnic Muslims) with an extremely intelligent friend who said, "Yeah, they don't eat meat. I think they think pigs are gods." Ummmyeah. So if you keep strictly kosher or halal or are allergic to anything, you may have some issues, depending on what the food item is. But that by no means precludes your enjoying Chinese food. Just make sure you learn how to say what you can't eat, and watch out. "Bu yao ____" means "Don't want___," but if you're deathly allergic it's probably better to say "Wo bu hui chi..." which means "I can't eat...," OR "Ruguo wo chi ___, wo si." That means, "If I eat ___, I'll die." No messing with you.

• Oh, and MSG: Again, I'm a bad person to talk to about this because I never had any problems with MSG. But there's probably MSG in most restaurant dishes. You can ask for dishes without, especially when getting street food. The phrase here is "Bu yao wei jin."

• **IMPORTANT**: Don't drink the tap water. You can brush your teeth and of course wash with tap water, but no one in China drinks straight tap water. You're supposed to boil it first. And almost everyone drinks hot water, even without tea.

A few good books

Not gonna lie: I should have read waaaay more of these in the weeks before leaving for China. As it was, I read a few the year before and a few while I was in China. I recommend either reading these in advance or--better yet--buying them and taking them with you.

• Beijing Coma--Ma Jian
  
• Life and Death in Shanghai--Nien Cheng
  
• Wild Swans--Jung Chang
  
• The Good Women of China--Xinran
• Mao: A life--Jonathan Spence
  
• Nixon in China--Margaret MacMillan
  
• Red China Blues--Jan Wong
  

Keep in mind it's difficult if not impossible to get books critical of China when you're in China. Many of them are banned outright--even the English versions. The best English-language bookstore I've found so far is called Garden Bookstore, on the corner of Shanxi Nan Lu 陕西南路 and Changle Lu 长乐路. It's criminally expensive but has good selection and sells coffee and ice cream.

Before you go:

I, for one, did very little advance planning or research before going to China. This was idiotic of me. The nice thing about this program is that it assumes you know nothing about China going in (although in some ways this is a mixed blessing: Starting from zero, you can only learn so much in an astonishingly short period of time). You don't have to do exhaustive research before you go. But these are some recommendations I've put together from my own mistakes and the suggestions of other former students:

• Apply for your visa! Queen's should give you everything you need to do this. If they don't, bug them. Note that you'll probably need something from Fudan guaranteeing your residence in order to get your visa. Allow for more time than you'll need, just in case.
  
• Buy plane tickets! (as far in advance as possible)
  
• Bring any medicine (aspirin, allergy meds, cough syrup, visine, stomach pills) you may need. Xiyao 西药 , or Western medicine, is hella expensive.
• Bring hand sanitizer. Or just buy soap and take it with you everywhere. You won't get soap in public washrooms in China. Trust me on this one.
• Bring tissues also.
• If you have a PC, update your virus software before you go. Macs should be all right, but your USBs may still get infected.
  
• Bring as much Chinese cash as you can. Banking fees can be rough.
• If you have the time and inclination, taking a course in Mandarin, or even buying a book or some tapes, can be a great help. If you have even the most basic linguistic foundation going in, you'll learn way more while you're there. I did not do this, and spent the first month or so entirely incoherent. I'm still mostly incoherent. But that's just me.
• Bring Canada souvenirs. Yes, most of these are made in China and they aren't terribly classy. But you can't get them in China and when you encounter people who have never seen a waiguoren 外国人 (foreigner) before, let alone a Canadian, they'll be thrilled.
  
• Read (or buy and pack) these books.

Beijing in photos

Sichuan in photos

Shanghai in photos

Anhui in photos

Anhui in photos

Hong Kong in photos