Name a brand and you will find it in Shanghai, including Ikea, which is so popular that seeing those bright blue bags over someone’s arm is hardly a surprising sight!
With the largest middle class in the world, the stores and pedestrain streets throng with people dressed in a completely western style (okay, people still walk around with umbrellas when the sun shines, but other then that) and enjoy a modest but arguably more balanced economy then most Americans can imagine. For example loosing a job here or being “relocated” does not mean that you are expected to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, collect short term unemployment that requires managing on a fraction of your salary or worry about basic education and healthcare. Life is much more like what you would expect in western Europe then what we experience in the US.
Yangs Dumplings - boiled then seared - are a must. Remember to pierce with your chop stick to allow the “juice” to run out prior to biting into these tasty morsels. Now your eating like a Shanghainese!
There are stores, LOTS of urban malls and innumerable eateries. Even though the 2015 GDP per capita is US$16,553, everything bustles, reflecting that Shanghai is generally an affordable city. Yangs Dumplings is popular with both locals and Trip Advisor voters for a memorable meal costing US$5US. Our Grand Central Hotel centrally located near The Bund, offered an incredibly popular all you can eat buffet for US$40 with piles of crawfish, carving stations etc. A good glass of wine US$7. M on the Bund will set you back a bit more, but this Australian entrepreneur, Michelle Garnaut, who now has a sister location in Beijing, offers an incredible combination of delightful food, amazing art and unforgettable views.
Starbucks can be found throughout Shanghai, but the Reserve Roastery is a destination not to be missed, even if you don’t like coffee.
Starbucks Reserve Roastery, Shanghai in many ways personifies the direction of this city and China overall. Two full floors of sipping, eating and buying options are open from 7AM - 11PM and offer an experience you won’t soon forget. Coffee beans from around the world are freshly roasted here behind a glass wall for all to see. A stock exchange type board educates consumers of their province and announces when they are being released via pneumatic tubes and to what coffee station. Sit at the bar as your personal barista creates a coffee tasting flight. Another area has a broad selection of teas. Multiple open kitchens create a wide variety of scrumptious western and eastern foods. The well curated merchandise offerings are of incredibly high quality and are certainly pricey, even by western standards, but move quickly. By the way, Starbucks flagship Reserve Roastery is in Seattle, one is opening this Summer in NYC’s Meatpacking District and another is planned for Chicago.
Fashion in Shanghai is certainly on par with London, Paris or New York. Presence is important here, whether your Gucci, Chanel, Burberry, a new Chinese designer or Botega Veneta. Shanghai’s own Feiyue sneaker brand is very popular in Paris, but available at bargain prices in here. Long gone are the drab grey, olive and blue that many associate with China’s past.
Winding through pedestrian streets in protected neighborhoods, undisturbed by development, feels like an oasis.
Archetypical meets contemporary in specific parts of the city. The government keeps rents incredibly low in the French Concession market, Tianzi Fang. Here tiny shops host both traditional goods and new fresh designers, safe from being crowded out by far more powerful brands. Shanghainese will tell you if a business can’t survive here, it can’t survive anywhere. It also provides a restful vintage feel that we all crave from time to time.
The art is incredibly more varied and free then 10 years ago and certainly more so then what you see here - but I just loved this monochromatic selection.
Art galleries are plentiful and varied in material usage, subject matter and approach. Images may reflect the past or comment on the future. There’s a surprising amount of high tech and interactivity that allows images to change colors and move, such as watching a young girl balance as she actively dances across a clothesline. M50 Hub, is anotable area of artist studios and galleries that are generally open to the public. Wander around, stop at one of the eateries and reminisce about the SoHo of days gone by.
One way bicycle rental is readily available at nearly free prices.
Getting around Shanghai is not as challenging as you might imagine. Although the presence of automobiles has increased dramatically, so too has the easy to use and very inexpensive subway system. (Apparently subways are easier to build in Shanghai then the stalled 2nd Ave line in NYC.) Motor scooters and bicycles were the traditional modes of transportation, so bike lanes and lane sharing is something Chinese take for granted, particularly within the older areas of the city. However the newly built major arteries can easily get clogged with traffic and a 6 mile car ride can take the better part of 45 minutes. (Think of the Long Island Expressway.) Yes, air pollution can certainly be an issue - similar to LA of the 80’s. But with a government who takes a long term view and exerts a steady hand, strict limits, easy access to bicycles and creating architecture focused on incorporating alternate energy and carbon footprint reduction would imply that this problem too will be solved.
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