I’ve forever been a guy who swings between ridiculous extremes, so after years of living modestly in the bustling but relatively small-scale tourist hotspot of Siem Reap, I decided that it was time to experience life on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Cue Shanghai, China – an economic powerhouse whose population was over 1.5 times as much as the entire nation of Cambodia when I moved there in 2015.
China had long fired my imagination. The cultures I considered most dissimilar from my own (bearing in mind that I confoundingly identify with White British culture before any others) were always the ones that most intrigued me, and China – which had spent millennia marching to the beat of its own singular drum – quickly found itself as my #1 destination ‘to visit’ once I hit adulthood. I’d always envisioned taking time off to travel around the country rather than actually living in it, but I’d studied some Chinese history during my undergraduate degree and was well-versed in current affairs, so when a seemingly-perfect job opportunity arose in Shanghai, I figured I had a solid idea of what I was signing up for.
Incorrect.
a city of beguiling contrasts – the first month in Shanghai
My new organisation had sent a driver to pick me up and shuttle me to a serviced apartment upon landing at 3am. I was still suffering from the distress of having torn myself away from my first love (Cambodia), but that swiftly subsided as I took in the futuristic cityscape around me: the endless waves of sky-high tower blocks, the insane amalgam of elevated highways, the sheer scale of everything – it took some 50km to get from the airport to the downtown, a distance that’d traverse the length of my entire home county in the UK. I slept soundly and awoke at noon to explore my surrounds: Tesco and Marks & Spencer were a stone’s throw from my door. Within the next 30 minutes I came across stores for every luxury brand that I’d ever heard of (and many more that I hadn’t), gargantuan malls of the likes that I’d never even computed, and international franchises from the world over. Was this ‘communist’, ‘regressive’, ‘authoritarian’ China? Or was this hyper-capitalism run completely amok?
Though Shanghai can hardly be considered representative of the country as a whole, it did exemplify its most desirable tendencies for a liberal Western expat back then: cosmopolitanism, diversity, an openness and an innately innovative (albeit entrepreneurial) spirit. It was a thriving, truly 24-hour metropolis where there was always a plethora of events and parties to preoccupy oneself with. I leant fully into the glitz and the glam, but also the untamed bedlam that was synonymous with those early years of minimal governmental regulation. I was besotted with the city and would rave about it to friends everywhere, insisting that they come visit in order to dispel their media-conditioned Sinophobia. And I was charmed by the country at large, too. Shanghai became my springboard for explorations around all of China, a nation I found endlessly fascinating in that era.
early trips around the Jiangnan region (Shanghai’s neighbouring areas/provinces)
That initial love affair has dissipated over time – a combination of the typical increase in cynicism that comes with staying somewhere too long, and the ordeal of living through China’s zero-Covid policy which single-handedly unravelled much of what I most loved about Shanghai (though admittedly, the winds of repressive change had already begun blowing in the late 2010s). My original enthusiasm has been replaced by the pragmatism of age. China is like every other nation on earth: a mixture of good (the convenience, the infrastructure, the prevailing kindness) and bad (human rights, censorship, the endemic lack of awareness re: how one’s behaviour impacts others around you). After a few years of being adamant about leaving but lacking the financial means to do so, I’ve somehow become comfortable with life here once more. Even in its heavily-compromised, post-Covid state, Shanghai remains a thoroughly liveable city; the good very much outweighs the bad. For now.
signage that we no longer see (above) and that we see all the time (below)
It’s hard to write conclusively about China at large. An immense country on multiple fronts: insular and prideful to a fault yet somehow innately curious and tolerant too. Travelling here can be absolutely maddening, but (perhaps because of that?) it can offer exhilaration on a higher plane than almost anywhere else on the planet. I feel grateful that I was wise enough to conduct most of my China-based adventures in my earlier years, when I was more forgiving towards some of the challenges of being here, and before the domestic tourism industry went into turbo mode (unless you’re genuinely off the beaten track – which is nigh-on impossible to achieve nowadays – expect insane crowds everywhere, at all times). If there’s one thing I can proclaim confidently it’s this: people revere the much-vaunted ‘5000 years of history’, but as a historian myself, that shouldn’t be anyone’s primary reason for visiting this remarkable nation (most ‘historical’ sights are latter-day reconstructions anyway) – the real diamond is the geography. As vast as it is vastly underrated, China’s home to a spectacular array of topographical wonders that can frequently take one’s breath away. Even when trapped in a mob of thousands, their phones and loudspeakers shattering one’s eardrums, the inherent beauty of this land always finds a way to shine through. Such is the paradox of China – and, as my gracious host nation for the past ten years now, it’s one that I’ll be returning to again and again as I work through my catalogue of photos.
For more China images from this period click here.
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Looking forward to more China reflections! (I had to comment as I couldn’t see another way to get email notifications, haha)
Two of China’s absolute highlights (Guilin + Huangshan) feature your good self, and trust that I’ll want to get those pics up sooner rather than later! Esp those Huangshan photos cos hot daaaamn. Also wild to think that these adventures were a decade ago, eh? :/
It’s ridiculous how time has flown by. The Huangshan and Guilin adventures were incredible – the reward of the sunrise without any crowds made the “pain” of hiking through the cloud and the abysmal hotel service worth it. I also remember a couple of my “less tolerant of China” moments on those trips – you know what I’m talking about, hahaha.
Yeah, I didn’t see the main subscribe button, but it was a good excuse to comment anyway 🙂
I actually have zero recollection of the hotel (non-?)service! I guess I’ll have to peruse my FB commentary to see if anything left an impression there. I DO remember carrying your backpack for part of the way when you were dying, ha! And I also remember the classic ‘Aliens’ meltdown in Guilin!! In hindsight, I’m a lot more sympathetic – there’s a reason why I try and avoid travelling in China nowadays lol. But mostly I remember just how spectacularly beautiful sunrise at Huangshan was. Genuinely one of the most visually breathtaking memories I have. And some of the most incredible photos too. Will have to get them up soon.
RE: the emojis, blame the website-builder! I’ve tried to search for a workaround for the issue and can’t find one that’s suitable… yet… *crying face*
Also, I think there should be an option to subscribe underneath the post and before the comments? I could have made the ‘Subscribe’ button a lot more prominent elsewhere, but I found all the other options a bit too intrusive and annoying tbh. I believe in freedom to browse!
Yikes, could they make the smiley face any bigger???