Instant replay?
China’s latest crackdown on DVD pirates looks familiar—and fake
This story originally appeared in the October 9, 2006 edition of Business China, published by The Economist. Download a PDF version of this story here.
by DAN WASHBURN
In September when six major international studios joined forces to launch court proceedings against two Beijing retailers accused of selling pirated versions of their films, some observers said the move signified a forceful shift in Hollywood’s intellectual-property-rights (IPR) campaign in China. But the legal action was not a first—the Motion Picture Association (MPA) says in 2002 and 2003 it initiated ten such civil cases in China, all of which were settled or ruled in favour of the plaintiffs. It was clearly, though, the studios’ way of testing China’s renewed pledge that improvements have been made to protect intellectual property. Earlier in September Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, was quoted as saying, “China’s IPR protection efforts will carry the full force of steel, and it will definitely not be something that is soft as bean curd.” However, Hollywood is not convinced and is “calling the Chinese government’s bluff”, says one analyst.
03.13.2007, 5:25 PM · Stories
My Shanghai story in Budget Travel magazine
A few weeks ago, the July/August edition of Budget Travel magazine hit newsstands across America and, I’m assuming, some other countries, as well. Page 66 featured a full page, color photo of a 32-year-old American sometime-journalist/marginally-informative-blogger/handbag-entrepreneur. A random reader emailed the guy in the photo and said the “pic struck me as nice” and told him “don’t ever stop smiling!” Meanwhile, an immediate family member told the guy his smile made him look “beaver like.” Well, you can’t win them all.
So anyway, I have an eight-page story in the current issue of Budget Travel. And yes, there is a full-page portrait of me (shot by a New York Times photographer, I might add). And yes, the title of the story is “My Shanghai Is Better Than Yours.” Both the photo and the title were the magazine’s idea — I’m sure your Shanghai is just fine.
The story is split up into three parts — Eat, Shop and Play — and I suggest 15 or so places/activities in each one. It was a little tricky. I had to keep in mind that my readers, and anyone who would actually end up putting my advice to use, would likely be be new to Shanghai and their Chinese would be limited or nonexistent. I also had a word count to stay under. As is my habit, I failed miserably in that task, thus the version that appeared in the magazine was a little less detailed than the one I turned in — but that is my fault. I may post the extended version here sometime after August.
You can read the story at budgettravelonline.com or you can download a PDF of the magazine version here. And you can also download the addresses of the places I mention in my story (in English and Chinese) here.
Also, on Tuesday I played the role of China travel expert (don’t laugh) in one of Budget Travel’s “live” Trip Coach chats. You can find the transcript here. And if you are wondering how I can think so well on my feet, keep in mind that I was sleeping when the chat actually took place.
07.13.2006, 10:19 PM · Best of Shanghai, Culture, Stories, Travel · Comments (6)
How to catch a pirate
The fight against global trade in fake goods is not just China’s problem
This story originally appeared in the February 27, 2006 edition of Business China, published by The Economist. Download a PDF version of this story here.
by DAN WASHBURN
In January when the Shanghai municipal government announced its plans to shut down Xiangyang Market—known simply as the “fake market” to locals—officials trumpeted the decision as a major victory in China’s battle against the rampant trade in pirated goods. Vice Mayor Zhou Taitong emphasised that the market was not just being “removed” but was being “abolished”. And the state media reminded readers that the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau handled 1,227 cases of trademark violation in 2005, confiscating 1.6m fake items from markets, including Xiangyang.
Another property deal?
But the government’s crackdown-on-counterfeits spin seems simply to have been a convenient byproduct of what the manoeuvre was really about: property. A few days after the Xiangyang announcement, local papers reported that Sun Hung Kai Properties, one of Hong Kong’s largest developers, was in “final talks” to purchase the market site—a prime plot on bustling Huaihai Road, in the heart of Shanghai’s commercial district—for US$450m.
A Xiangyang salesperson says the merchants have been asked to leave the market before June 30, adding that many shopkeepers will be happy with a change of venue because rents at Xiangyang are expensive, averaging about US$5,000 per month per stall. “We will continue to sell the same products, but in a different part of the city,” says the 22-year-old, who specialises in fake luxury handbags. “The government is already telling some shops to move to the Longhua area. The market will not go away.” And what if it did? Fake goods can be found stocking storefronts on nearly every street in Shanghai.
06.20.2006, 10:02 AM · Business, Politics, Stories · Comments (3)
Help offered
In a country with no tradition of classified advertising, eBay sees a bright future for an online version of it
This story originally appeared in the October 24, 2005 edition of Business China, published by The Economist. Download a PDF version of this story here.
by DAN WASHBURN
Already a multi-billion-dollar industry in the US, Internet classified advertising has arrived in China, courtesy of online-auction giant eBay. But China has no history of classifieds, online or offline. So it begs the question: can online classifieds in China make money? According to the people behind Kijiji.com, eBay’s entry into the international online-classifieds market, the answer is yes—easily. How do they plan to pull it off? By taking their online operation offline.
In August 2004 eBay purchased a 25% stake in San Francisco-based online classifieds pioneer Craigslist.com for a reported US$10m-12m. Six months later, eBay launched Kijiji (it means “village” in Swahili), a mostly non-English network of Craigslist-inspired community websites where people advertise jobs, apartments, goods, activities and services for free. After a series of acquisitions, Kijiji now has websites covering more than 150 cities in 20 countries. And Kijiji China, launched in February with the other Kijiji sites around the world, is leading the pack with more than 80,000 postings at any given time.
China’s huge population obviously provides Kijiji with a solid base from which to grow. Even with very low Internet penetration, the number of Chinese going online is estimated to be more than 100m, second only to the US. But China’s low labour costs allow Kijiji to try things there that it would think twice about in other parts of the world, especially when the operation has little or no revenue.
Still in the rough
The success of golf tournaments in China belies the tepid state of the country’s golf business
This story originally appeared in the November 21, 2005 edition of Business China, published by The Economist. Download a PDF version of this story here.
by DAN WASHBURN
Tiger Woods played in an official international golf tournament in China for the first time this month. It was a big one—the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, the richest golf event ever held in Asia with a US$5m purse. This coupling of cash and the world’s top player brought the buzz surrounding the growth of golf in China to a crescendo. Zhang Lianwei, China’s most successful pro golfer, said Mr Woods’s presence “moved China golf forward by ten years.”
Hot ticket
China is emerging as a hot ticket for international golf tournaments. This year alone, the mainland and Hong Kong hosted five European Tour events—more than Scotland (four) or England (three). But golf in China is all big-money tournaments and almost no growth at the grass-roots level. Events like the HSBC tournament create great exposure for the game in China, but nearly everything about them is foreign. They include few Chinese golfers, even fewer domestic sponsors and lukewarm government support. Domestic media coverage is also perfunctory at best, though a gallery of some 5,000 people followed Mr Woods during the HSBC Champions’ final day.
“People are saying what a great year it has been for Chinese golf—I disagree,” says Nick Mould, senior vice president of Singapore-based World Sport Group. “It has been a great year for golf in China, but not for Chinese golf. This is not sustainable, because nothing is left behind.” He pointed to two high-profile tournaments in China prior to the HSBC—the BMW Asian Open and the Johnnie Walker Classic—where out of US$3.8m in prize money, less than US$50,000 ended up in the pockets of Chinese golfers.
HSBC Champions: Golf still an elitist pursuit in China
This story originally appeared on ESPN.com.
by DAN WASHBURN
Sheshan International Golf Club, site of this week’s HSBC Champions tournament, is about an hour west of Shanghai — if you are lucky. The only way to get there from downtown is a start-and-stop ride along the Hu Ning “Expressway,” an overcrowded stretch of asphalt that cuts through a grim part of the city you won’t find mentioned in any tour book. Most spectators are bussed in and bussed out and never set foot outside the picturesque private grounds. And if you were part of that crowd on Thursday and Friday, it would be easy to draw this conclusion: China loves Tiger Woods.
In a nation of 1.3 billion, crowds are not hard to come by. But on a golf course? That’s something new in a country with only an estimated 200,000 people who play the sport, a country that didn’t have a golf course until 1984. The gallery following Woods for the tournament’s first two rounds easily topped 1,000. Some guessed it was closer to 2,000. That’s more than four times the number of fans who followed Ernie Els during the final round of the BMW Asian Open here in May.
HSBC Champions: Ian Poulter’s ‘funny looking pants’
This story originally appeared in the November 13, 2005 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
While the hordes were hovering behind Tiger Woods as he practiced at the driving range Saturday morning, Ian Poulter worked on his putting a couple dozen meters away. There was no crowd surrounding the Englishman, but nearly everyone who walked past him did a double take, stopped and took a photo. Why? Poulter’s pants, of course.
Much has been written about the maverick 29-year-old, his outlandish attire, spiky highlighted hair and reflective sunglasses. And, pants-wise, Poulter brought his A-game to Shanghai — four pairs spun from ornately embroidered Chinese silk.
“A lot have said ‘nice pants’ — the ones who could speak English, anyway,” Poulter said of the fans at the HSBC Champions tournament. “I find it good fun and I don’t want to be boring. There are loads of guys out here who just wear standard stuff, and that’s not what I’m about. I want to be different. And the silk pants were a nice way to do it out here in China.”
11.15.2005, 10:15 PM · Sports, Stories · Comments (1)
HSBC Champions: Tiger who?
This story originally appeared in the November 12, 2005 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
While some 2,000 golf fans weathered rainstorms to track every move of the world’s best golfer Friday in the second round of the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, Yao Guang Mei swept leaves with a bamboo broom. She just might have been the only person at Sheshan International Golf Club who had never heard of Tiger Woods.
“All I know is that foreigners will come here to compete,” she said.
Yao, who lives in a village 30 minutes away from the course, gets paid five dollars a day to work at the club, where a lifetime membership costs $148,000 and furnished villas average $2 million. And she’s happy to do it.
“It looks great,” she said of the grounds. “But all of these big houses look the same. Sometimes I get lost.” Yao stopped to chuckle before adding, “Back home, I don’t get to see much of this modern society. When I got the chance to work here, I was very excited to see all of these new things.”
HSBC Champions: Hope lies on Hu’s slender shoulders
This story originally appeared in the November 11, 2005 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
The boy who has been dubbed the future of Chinese golf spends 11 months of the year in Florida, and he appears equally comfortable conducting interviews in English and Mandarin. Sixteen-year-old Hu Mu, the eighth-ranked junior golfer in the world according to Golfweek magazine, has a lot resting on his slight shoulders, he’s used to it. He’s been the future of Chinese golf since he was 11.
“There is a bit of pressure to be called that,” admitted Hu, who looks toward the ground when he talks and speaks just above a whisper. “There are so many talented Chinese golfers out there. I do want to be the future of Chinese golf, though. I want to inspire other young kids to learn the game in China.”
Hu is the only amateur participating in the HSBC Champions tournament this week at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai. He opened Thursday with a disappointing 6-over 78, closing with a triple bogey in the rain on the final hole.
An American wedding, Tiger Woods and sleep deprivation
So sorry for my silence recently. Been pretty damn busy. Went to the States a little while back for a week, caught a cold and attended a wedding (photos). Sleep patterns screwed up, several deadlines converged and now I’m pulling long shifts while filing stories from the HSBC Champions golf tournament, which is an annoying commute out to Songjiang District. Why people buy million dollar villas this far from downtown is a mystery to me — Thai Food Station doesn’t deliver out here. Anyway, here’s a story I filed for ESPN.com last night. I hope to get back to regular sleep and posting patterns soon.
11.12.2005, 12:56 PM · Diary, Sports, Stories · Comments (1)
ESPN.com’s package on golf in China
You just might recognize the author
ESPN.com, the internet’s sports website of record, is running two stories I wrote about golf in China:
• Golf in China grows bigger by the day
• Chinese events bring interesting questions
At the time of this posting, the package was ESPN.com’s featured story on the site’s main page. But that changes pretty often, so here is a screen shot. It’s also the lead story on ESPN.com’s golf page (screen shot).
And yes, I think this is all pretty cool. It’s not too often you get to write for one of your favorite websites. (Even if they do initially spell your name wrong.)
05.19.2005, 2:20 AM · Featured, Sports, Stories · Comments (2)
MLB invests in China’s baseball growth
A version of this story appeared in the May 11, 2005 online edition of Baseball America.
by DAN WASHBURN
SHANGHAI — The China Baseball League celebrated its Opening Day in April, but in Shanghai, the country’s showpiece “international city,” the invitations must have been lost in the mail. As the fledgling pro league’s Shanghai Eagles and Tianjin Lions battled it out in the ironically named Shanghai Sports Palace, a dusty field far northwest of city center, there was more activity at a bustling fish market nearby.
About 75 fans and curious onlookers were scattered throughout the stadium’s 800 or so seats, and they were treated to an exciting game. Shanghai, last in the league in wins and attendance since the CBL launched in 2002, squandered a 4-0 lead in the ninth inning and ended up losing 9-5 in 12 innings. Most of the cheering during the game, however, came from the dugouts.
05.17.2005, 3:48 AM · Sports, Stories · Comments (2)
China’s top golfer demands more domestic support
Zhang: Playing for PRC an “ordeal”
Coverage of the BMW Asian Open, a professional golf tournament co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Asian Tour. A version of this story appeared in the May 1, 2005 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
SHANGHAI — China’s top-ranked golfer Zhang Lian Wei criticized his government and Chinese companies Saturday, delivering an emotional post-round press conference that elicited applause from members of the Chinese media covering the BMW Asian Open at Tomson Golf Club.
Zhang, who turns 40 on Monday, said he has never received any state funding during his historic 11-year career. He added that he has zero domestic sponsors.
“It’s such an ordeal playing golf in China over the years,” Zhang said, his voice cracking at times. “It’s tough, it’s difficult and it’s lonely. I know golf is not an Olympic sport, but I think the sports authorities should at least have shown some kind of support, like air tickets or something, to show their appreciation of my contributions to Chinese golf.”
05.03.2005, 1:20 PM · Photos, Sports, Stories · Comments (2)
Els to fans: Put your phones on vibrate
Coverage of the BMW Asian Open, a professional golf tournament co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Asian Tour. A version of this story appeared in the April 30, 2005 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
SHANGHAI — There are, by the most recent count, some 330 million mobile phones in China, so it’s not too surprising that one of them happened to be five feet away from Ernie Els as he lined up a putt Friday during the second round of the BMW Asian Open at Tomson Golf Club in Shanghai.
Els was at hole No. 6 and, already at 13-under for the tournament, enjoying a rather commanding lead. He was putting from 10 feet for his third consecutive birdie, his fifth on the first six holes of the back nine.
And then that darn phone rang.
Els stopped his putt in mid-swing, turned around and smiled at the phone’s owner, a middle-aged Asian woman. Others weren’t so kind. Fans yelled at her in English and Mandarin. She managed to stop the ringing — and then the phone rang again.
“It happens a lot more over here,” said Els, the world No. 3. “It seems like everyone has a camera and everyone has a mobile phone that can also take pictures. Most of the time I take it in stride, but hopefully it doesn’t happen too often over the weekend, because it is a bit of a distraction. You want a bit of quiet over the ball.”
Southwest Guangxi: The good, the bad and the beautiful
This story is not part of The Trip series. It is based on a previous trip to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
by DAN WASHBURN
There were times during my pursuit of the world’s second-largest transnational waterfall that I began to wonder: Just how many transnational waterfalls are there in the world anyway? What if my trek through the rarely visited southwest section of China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region led me to a trickle instead of a fall? What if Detian Waterfall, which straddles the Sino-Vietnamese border, earned the “second-largest” distinction by default? What if the list is Niagara and not much else?
There are a lot of what ifs when traveling in this often ignored corner of China. Most people who visit Guangxi stick to the well-worn paths of the northeast. There, the city of Guilin has long been a popular tourist destination — Chinese, who visit by the busload, describe the city as “famous” — and the nearby village of Yangshuo has evolved into one of China’s only legitimate backpacker havens, with a decidedly “un-Chinese” feel. The region’s landscape is truly breathtaking. But its popularity has spawned an atmosphere heavy on touristy kitsch, in which every foreigner — and there are plenty — is a walking mark, a dollar sign in the eyes of some budding entrepreneur.
Travel southwest a couple hundred miles and the dollar signs are replaced by question marks. Stares are long and hard. But then they end, and no one has tried to sell you anything. They’re too busy wondering what you are doing there — in these parts, you can go weeks without seeing another foreign face.
In search of baseball’s Yao Ming
China takes a swing at America’s Pastime
A version of this story appeared in the July 18, 2004 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription required).
by DAN WASHBURN
SHANGHAI — Seattle Mariners scout Ted Heid has spent the past four years searching China for “diamonds in the rough.” He hasn’t found any yet. Right now, he says, he is closely monitoring the progress of a lot of “lumps of coal.” But Heid will be back in Beijing and Shanghai next year, and the year after that. China’s baseball boom is coming … sometime. Only no one seems to be sure when it will finally arrive.
“You can’t discount China in anything, whether it is business or any athletic event,” said Heid, the Mariners’ Director of Pacific Rim Operations. “Once they make it a focus, their greatest asset is people.”
11.30.2004, 1:24 AM · Sports, Stories · Comments (3)
An ‘Aggressive American Wolf’ in Dandong
Smiles and laughter … with North Korea next door
DANDONG, Liaoning — The children were North Korean. But their smiles were universal. They really appeared to be enjoying themselves, splashing around in the Yalu River, sitting out in the sun. What kid in the world wouldn’t? It was a beautiful day.
I sat in a boat a couple dozen meters away — North Korea doesn’t like it when foreigners get much closer — and took photos. Now I could show my friends and family back in the States: See, North Koreans smile, too.
They also wave. Waving and smiling, the kids motioned for me to come join them. For what, I had no idea. Was this some kind of a joke?
My boat cruised slowly beside the banks of North Korea and left the waving children in its wake. I and the other tourists on the boat — all Chinese — continued to peer into perhaps the most secretive and isolated country in the world. And, you know what? It looked a lot like rural China. Shouldn’t come as a surprise — China was just 300 meters and one invisible boundary line away.
10.13.2004, 10:25 AM · Liaoning, Stories, The Trip · Comments (13)
Shenyang: The truth flows with the wine
The story the government didn’t want to be told
SHENYANG, Liaoning — I expected Mr. Shi to be waiting for me at the train station with a cold beer in one hand and an itinerary in the other. In the weeks leading up to my departure from Shanghai, and during my first month of traveling, he had been by far the most attentive and persistent of my contacts along the route.
He sent long emails and presented a detailed plan of attack for visiting the dozens of attractions Shenyang had to offer (even though every Chinese person I questioned leading up to my arrival in Shenyang had trouble naming one thing worth seeing in the city). He called me weekly, sometimes more often than that, his deep voice checking up on my current whereabouts and my estimated date of arrival in Shenyang. He wanted to make sure he was at the train station to greet me.
In Beijing, I finally had an answer for Mr. Shi. I would arrive on Saturday — at 2 a.m. I felt bad, but there were no other options.
“Mr. Shi,” I said to him over the phone, “we would be happy to get a hotel room that night. You could just meet us in the morning.”
“Nonsense,” his voice boomed back at me. “Saturday morning is still Friday night to us. It’s time to play. We will drink beer while we wait for you. It will be a party.”
There are stereotypes about dong bei ren, people from northeastern China: They are a hard-drinking lot — chuggers of both beer and bai jiu — and they are so amazingly gracious it makes you feel guilty. I can confirm both of these stereotypes to be accurate.
09.24.2004, 1:45 PM · Liaoning, Stories, The Trip · Comments (20)
Haoyi Village: ‘There were more blue skies 10 years ago’
HAOYI, Shanxi — The electricity goes out almost every day in tiny Haoyi village. It’s the sad irony of China’s economic boom: The province that fuels much of the country’s growth and modernization often can’t afford to fuel itself.
Haoyi village, with 4,000 shy and skeptical inhabitants, is an odd, isolated place surrounded by corn fields and coal mines. It is located an hour north of Linfen in southern Shanxi, a gritty, blue-collar province famous for coal, power generation, metal refining and other heavy industries. Called the “Coal Warehouse of China,” Shanxi is responsible for as much as one-third of China’s annual coal output, according to some reports.
Yet, Shanxi remains one of the poorest provinces in the country. In June, the average urban household had a monthly income of RMB 649 ($79), according to official government statistics. Rural Shanxi families earned an average of RMB 900 ($110) — total — for the first six months of 2004.
08.27.2004, 1:05 AM · Shanxi, Stories, The Trip · Comments (15)
In Xi’an, house painters hit the streets to peddle their wares
XI’AN, Shaanxi — They arrive by the dozen, hundreds of them, every morning, pedaling eagerly to the corner of Feng Gao Xi Lu and Xi Er Huan Lu, looking something like hobo jousters, wooden poles topped with paint rollers strapped like lances to their rundown bicycles. They are ready to do battle for a day’s work. Because work for these men is never guaranteed.
When people need day laborers in the midwestern Chinese city of Xi’an, they don’t look in the Yellow Pages or classifieds, they head to a local street corner like this one, where workers will literally fight for the opportunity to earn RMB 50 ($6) a day.
08.24.2004, 12:38 AM · Shaanxi, Stories, The Trip · Comments (7)
Fireworks factories, coal mines and cute little puppies
HENGSHUI, Jiangxi — “I don’t understand why so many people just want to stay in the village. They don’t want change. They don’t want a better life.”
Eighteen-year-old Miao Jiao — Jo, as I know her — is in limbo, hovering between two different worlds, two different eras. She attends college in Shanghai, an ever-changing city of nearly 20 million that buzzes like one giant neon light bulb. Her hometown is Hengshui, population 4,000, a tiny village in western Jiangxi Province, where the Miao family is one of the lucky ones — they have electricity. She said when she is in Hengshui, she misses Shanghai. When she is in Shanghai, she misses Hengshui.
If you live in Hengshui, you probably either work on a farm, in a coal mine, at a fireworks factory — or you don’t work at all. Until last year, Jo’s father, Miao Chang Xin, worked in sales for one of the many small local coal mines. But like so many small local coal mines in Jiangxi, Mr. Miao’s was mismanaged and went out of business. Now Miao, who had worked at the mine for more than 20 years, is jobless. At 43, Jo fears her father is too old to find steady work. He currently passes time at home making parts for a local fireworks factory on a small hand-operated machine. They pay him RMB 30 — $2.75 — a day.
07.31.2004, 4:39 PM · Jiangxi, Stories, The Trip · Comments (15)
Hengfeng Town: ‘It’s different in China’
HENGFENG, Jiangxi — According to the Jiangxi Statistical Yearbook and State Statistical Bureau, the southeastern province of Jiangxi — which boasts the largest gold, silver, copper, plutonium, uranium, lead and zinc resources in China — has an average annual household income of RMB 4678, just a tad shy of $600 a year. But according to my former student Gerry (Hong Min) and his friends, that figure seems a bit off. It should be a about $120 lower.
Traveling from Hangzhou to northeast Jiangxi’s Hengfeng, a small town of 100,000 or 200,000 — no one seems to know — the great divide that exists in China becomes quite clear. As John Edwards might say, there are two Chinas. Three, if you want to put Shanghai in a category all by itself.
“Do you like hot food?” Gerry asked me as one of his uncles drove us to Hengfeng from the Shangrao train station. “My mother was worried you may not like spicy food.”
07.28.2004, 4:50 PM · Jiangxi, Stories, The Trip · Comments (6)
Chinese Football: Wilkinson’s Shanghai surprise
Hired by reigning league champs, Sgt. Wilko could be gone before the fall
by DAN WASHBURN
SHANGHAI — Every time Howard Wilkinson exits his five-star Shanghai hotel, he thinks about Flash Gordon. Overlooking the Huangpu River, the Oriental Riverside Hotel sits in the shadow of the Pudong skyline, a scattershot vision of the future that feels about as humanistic as a set for a science-fiction movie. One of the otherworldly skyscrapers reminds Wilkinson of the Saturday morning trips to the cinema he used to make as a child in Sheffield, England. To him, the building looks just like Flash Gordon’s rocket ship. To him, the building, and those that surround it, look nothing like China — or at least the China that he was anticipating when he arrived in Shanghai in March.
05.14.2004, 9:59 AM · Sports, Stories · Comments (6)
Alex Scales: Standing tall in Shanghai
NBA dreams take former Oregon star around the world — and out of his element
by DAN WASHBURN
SHANGHAI — Alex Scales was surrounded. Moments after the Shanghai Sharks defeated the Zhejiang Horses, a huge push of people had its favorite foreign player corralled. His head and shoulders poking through the throng, Scales was at the mercy of the masses. If the crowd moved, he moved too — a bust bobbing on a sea of black hair. They wanted autographs and photos. He wanted a way out. It was the only time Scales looked lost on the basketball court that night.
04.19.2004, 6:44 AM · Sports, Stories · Comments (6)
This just in from Hong Kong …
today i received PDF files of my two most recent stories for the south china morning post (subscription only). to check them out, click the links below:
Up in Smoke: Shanghai is all tied up in the tobacco
NOTE: Versions of this story appeared in the South China Morning Post (subscription only) and that’s Shanghai magazine.
by DAN WASHBURN
SHANGHAI — Song Hai Pei’s front teeth are stained brown from smoking cigarettes. A pack of Red Double Happiness rests at the ready in his breast pocket. He often offers smokes to the patrons of the small restaurant he owns in northern Shanghai. Song, 47, has been a smoker for 25 years. Not once has he thought about quitting. No reason to, he claims, as long as he feels healthy and can afford the financial burden of his habit. When asked whether he believes cigarettes are addictive, he responds: “No. I can go without smoking for one whole day without feeling a thing.”
09.29.2003, 12:26 AM · Politics, Stories · Comments (2)
Green Acres?
Some people really think Shanghai is a “Garden City”
NOTE: A version of this story appears in the June issue of that’s Shanghai magazine.
by DAN WASHBURN
To most people in Shanghai, green is the color your face turns when the city’s air is at its most acrid. But Shanghai officials hope to force the color from your face and stick it in the ground … tree after tree after tree. They are overseeing a greening of Shanghai’s acres that would make Oliver Wendell Douglas proud. And soon — maybe even late this year — this concrete jungle will officially be known as a “Garden City.” Believe it or not, the Shanghai Landscaping Administration Bureau claims that at the end of last year Shanghai was 30 percent green space. The goal is to have that figure at 35 percent by the end of this year, which would satisfy one requirement for the Construction Ministry of China’s “Garden City” status. This begs the logical question: Where exactly is all of this green space? Well, you may be standing on some right now and not even know it.
05.30.2003, 4:33 PM · Politics, Stories · Comments (3)
Not-so-Easy Riders
NOTE: A version of this story appeared in today’s edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
Mark Jardine needed a break. Outside of Lijiang, in the remote northwest corner of China’s Yunnan Province, he and his Harley-Davidson had just rumbled 150 kilometers up a serpentine stretch of hand-laid cobblestone that climbed to an elevation of 4,400 meters. He stopped his motorcycle and looked down. The Yangtze River roared through Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Jardine spoke to his riding partners.
“You guys have got to admit,” he said. “This is the most awesome thing that we have done.”
05.27.2003, 10:58 PM · Stories
Who the f - - k is Deslee?
And other thoughts about dive bars
NOTE: A version of this story appears in that’s Shanghai magazine’s bar guide, due out later this month.
by DAN WASHBURN
meet the winners in the dives,
where the people are the real stars,
all the rest of their lives.
— Neil Young, “Sail Away”
It was one of those bar bathrooms where you make sure to breathe through your mouth. I didn’t want to find out if it smelled as bad as it looked. The entire night was a game of bladder roulette: Can I hold it until I get home? The answer was no — 10 kuai beers tend to go right through me. And after they all did, I went to wash my hands, but quickly thought better of it. The puke in the sink was piled too high. (It made me feel better about the beer I would spill later in the night.). As I walked to where I could breath through my nose again, I came upon a well-dressed man sitting on the floor, using the wall as a pillow. He was mumbling something, but I couldn’t understand him. Not sure if he was speaking Chinese or Chivas Regal.
05.22.2003, 11:03 PM · Stories
Mountains Gone Wild
NOTE: An extremely toned down version of this story appeared in the April 2004 edition of that’s Shanghai magazine.
by DAN WASHBURN
Girls! Girls! Girls! — Motley Crue (1981-2000 AD), “Girls, Girls, Girls”
There is a place with no crowds, no skyscrapers, no trash on the ground — and it’s only a four-hour drive from Shanghai. If Hangzhou is Shanghai’s backyard, then Lin’an, with its comparatively organic surroundings, is the city’s secret clubhouse up in a tree. You won’t find this quirky city of 500,000 in any of your guidebooks, and that’s exactly the reason you should go. Located in northwest Zhejiang Province, Lin’an is the perfect jumping off point for a day spent exploring grand and green Tianmu Mountain. Head back into town after dark to take in its curious and compelling nightlife. (There is a disco bar in Lin’an that has a dance floor that glows and bounces up and down … and barely bedraped dancing girls — two of them, at least — who do things that haven’t been done to a pole since Roman Polanski slept over at Jack Nicholson’s house.)
04.10.2003, 10:39 AM · Lin'an, Stories · Comments (1)
Build Me Up, Tear Me Down
NOTE: A version of this piece was the cover story for the April 2003 issue of that’s Shanghai magazine. The South China Morning Post (subscription only) also ran a version.
by DAN WASHBURN
The Shanghai Concert Hall looks lonely. It sits by itself, surrounded by bulldozers and dirt, cowering in the shadow of Yan’an Elevated Highway. Once grand, the 73-year-old theatre now just looks grimy. This building deserves better. And later this month, many believe that’s just what it will get. The hall — all 5,650 tons of it — is being hoisted up and moved 70 meters southeast. It is the largest relocation project Shanghai has ever seen, and no doubt will be touted as a sign of the city’s dedication to preserving its past.
04.10.2003, 7:40 AM · Politics, Stories · Comments (1)
Happy Freakin’ Valentine’s Day
NOTE: A shorter and less, um, explicit version of this story will appear in the February 2003 issue of that’s Shanghai magazine.
by DAN WASHBURN
I hate Valentine’s Day. And, I would guess, privately most of you do too … unless you happen to be wrapped up in the flowers, greeting cards and chocolate racket. There’s not much less romantic than a holiday that tries to force you to be romantic. There’s not much less romantic than V-Day’s origins, either. First, there was ancient Rome’s Lupercalia, the mid-February fornication festival that required each horny young boy to pick at random the name of a female (it didn’t matter if she was horny) to be his plaything for the following year. Erotic? Yes. Romantic? No.
01.24.2003, 7:34 AM · Humor, Stories · Comments (1)
Simple Sells
NOTE: Versions of this story appeared in the South China Morning Post (subscription only) and that’s Shanghai magazine.
by DAN WASHBURN
Who says the Chinese don’t have a taste for cheese? Turn on a television here and you’ll likely see dancing chopsticks, singing office workers and plenty of pretty people cavorting through tall fields of grass under an unusually bright blue sky. To a Westerner, Chinese advertisements — not to mention many of the shows that take up space between them — seem rather, well, cheesy. It’s as if we’ve seen it all before. And, in many cases, we have.
01.01.2003, 1:09 AM · Stories
