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25 Sep 08
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My “Best American” Moment. Houghton Mifflin is starting to publish this year’s editions of its Best American series (Best American Essays, Best American Sports Writing, etc), and I’m proud to say that my essay, “Keeping Faith,” originally published in the... |
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25 Sep 08
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Northwest Airlines: A First Class Security Hole Northwest Airlines operates one flight, daily, from Shanghai’s Pudong Airport: Flight 26, to Tokyo Narita.
On Tuesday morning I arrived at the airport two hours before flight 26’s scheduled departure and took my place in the very long check-in... |
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22 Sep 08
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Shanghai’s Biggest T-storm in living color Thanks to Shanghaiist, and - later - Shanghai Daily, I learn that the large thunderstorm that I witnessed rolling into Shanghai on Saturday was “reportedly the strongest in over 100 years” to hit Shanghai. It was certainly the darkest, and... |
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21 Sep 08
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No Nano 4 Best Buy China. On Friday I ran my beloved ipod nano, 2nd gen, through the laundry. Some consolation was provided by the news that Apple had released its much-vaunted 4th generation ipod nano a few days before. So, if I couldn’t have my old one, I could at least... |
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21 Sep 08
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The Hand Next Door I’ve been in my current Shanghai apartment for four years, and I’ve come to know my neighbors fairly well. But for some reason, before this afternoon, I’d never noticed the religious statuary in the window that angles towards one of... |
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21 Sep 08
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The State of Expat Advertising This one’s for the folks outside of Shanghai.
If you live in Shanghai, you are almost certainly aware of this advertisement for the high-end Dragonfly Spa which, prior to this campaign, emphasized its classical Chinese roots. In fact, there’s... |
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17 Sep 08
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Offline Until November 1. As of today, I’m putting Shanghai Scrap on a six-week hiatus so that I can finish a book project requiring my undivided attention. Blogging takes time. Time to write. Time to read. And, in the case of this blog, it requires travel and conversations... |
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16 Sep 08
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Wait a minute, Mister Postman. As noted in previous posts, Haibao, the Gumby-like mascot for World Expo 2010, has, in the wake of the Olympics, infiltrated Shanghai. Writing from the perspective of Shanghai Scrap HQ: he is on the banners that hang from the lampposts on my street; he is... |
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11 Sep 08
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Mooncake Scalpers! I moved to China nine days before the 2002 mid-Autumn Festival - the Mooncake Festival - and it’s been my favorite Chinese holiday ever since. But I’ll leave that story for another time. For now, suffice it to say that - in my years here,... |
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10 Sep 08
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Out of the blue, into the black: A few thoughts on China’s new “e-waste” law I started reporting on the Chinese scrap industry six years ago, and I think that I wrote my first story claiming that China’s long-awaited laws on the recycling of e-scrap (computers, monitors, etc) were imminent, shortly after SARS, in July 2003.... |
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09 Sep 08
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Proof Positive that ESPN’s Asian Programmers Hate American Football Two years ago ESPN agreed to pay US$1.1 billion per season to the NFL for broadcast rights to the venerable Monday Night Football franchise. To recoup this fee, ESPN will make every effort to expand the audience for its Monday night games, while providing... |
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08 Sep 08
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Where Fuwa Fear to Tread. I promise that - in the run-up to Expo 2010 - I will not make a habit of Haibao posts [Haibao being the mascot for the 2010 World Expo]. But over the last five days or so, the roll-out of Expo 2010/Haibao-related material in Shanghai has been so rapid and... |
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08 Sep 08
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The 2008 Minnesota Overseas/Military Absentee Ballot Follies [NOTE TO REGULAR READERS: If you're interested in how US absentee election ballots are handled, this post is for you. If not, and you stopped by expecting to see China content ... might I recommend Dee Dee Pass's excellent "The New China Price" in... |
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08 Sep 08
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Flying Turtles and the Spinning God of Real Estate. Below, the soon-to-be iconic view from the 94th floor observation deck at the newly opened Shanghai World Financial Center, taken last night.
Full-access to the three observation decks is a pricey RMB 150 (more than the cost of a trip to the Empire State... |
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05 Sep 08
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Haibao, on the street where I live. While I was out of China two very important events happened in my neighborhood. First, everyone’s favorite pirate DVD shop re-opened. And second, the Beijing 2008 banners were pulled off lampposts and replaced with World Expo 2010 banners.
I leave... |
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04 Sep 08
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Operate on Liu Xiang? Sorry, I’m due on the 14th fairway. News that Liu Xiang may travel to the US for surgery on his injured ankle has produced much defensive teeth-gnashing on the part of Chinese sports fans. Here at Shanghai Scrap, we can’t help but wonder whether the Great Hurdler might have been able... |
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31 Aug 08
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By Comparison … London’s Already Ambivalent Olympics [Note to readers: I'm not 100% prepared to promise that this will be this blog's last Beijing Olympics-related post. But, if I were a betting man (I'm not), the odds would be pretty good on this, in fact, being the last one]
I spent most of the last... |
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29 Aug 08
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Early Images of the Bangkok Protests I’m in London at the moment, far away from all things Asian, especially the ongoing and increasingly violent anti-government protests in Thailand (that now include efforts to shut down Thailand’s air and rail links). But that was not the case... |
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25 Aug 08
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Rush Hour, Hengshan and Gao An Early this morning I was awakened by some pretty spectacular thunder claps (effects of Typhoon Nuri, I learn). Then, I fell back asleep, lulled by a really nice sounding, steady rain. Little did I expect to find the streets of Shanghai (well, my streets)... |
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25 Aug 08
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Games Over, London-bound, and offline until 2 Sept. [Repeat: Idle until 2 September.]
For years, I’ve been saying that there’s no escaping the Olympics in China, and now - in a cosmic joke of sorts - I’m the living proof: twelve hours after the closing ceremonies, I’m getting ready... |
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23 Aug 08
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The Vancouver Sun’s Douglas Todd is a Thief and an Idiot Imagine this blogger’s delight when his news feed picked up an article entitled “China’s stress on “harmony” keeps tight lid on religion.” After all, a solid 25% of the posts on this blog have concerned Chinese religion... |
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23 Aug 08
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Shanghai’s Cathedral Windows in Bloom. Frankly, after getting drenched in the swirling downpour that followed Thursday’s Olympic sailing in Qingdao, I declared my Olympics to be officially over (still drying out). No more deadlines, no more tickets. I’ll likely have something to... |
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22 Aug 08
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Of Beer, Algae, and Sailing So ends the Olympic sailing competition … and my Atlantic dispatches from the Olympic co-host cities. The last of them, “Of Beer, Algae, and Sailing,” posted from Qingdao, is now up on the Atlantic’s site. Among other challenges,... |
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21 Aug 08
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Sailing in the rain … Just back from a rainy and windy day out of at the Olympic Sailing Center, topped off by a 3 mile walk back to my hotel because - dear me - there were no taxis to be hired in downtown Qingdao (during a rush-hour rainstorm that coincided with the end of... |
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21 Aug 08
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The Olympic Sailing Center by Sunset Yesterday, due to airline-related issues, I arrived at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center just in time for … the sunset. Problems aside, it’s a gorgeous facility that - I’m told - will be opened up to the people of Qingdao after the... |
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19 Aug 08
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Pride doesn’t equal confidence. [File Under: What You Missed During the Olympics]
Whatever else it may have buoyed, these Olympics have done nothing for China’s ailing stocks markets. On Monday, while most of China was busy being shocked by Liu Xiang’s dramatic pull-back,... |
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19 Aug 08
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Go Visit the China Business Blog and Podcast. I interrupt this Olympics to recommend that you go and visit the China Business Blog and Podcast right now. It’s run by my friend, Kent Kedl who - in China, at least - has developed a certain level of fame on the basis of his year-long stint as the... |
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18 Aug 08
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Shake Your Hips. I think that I’ve blogged quite enough about Shanghai’s Olympic soccer matches, so - barring something really interesting happening at tomorrow’s men’s semi - this will be the last. And we’re going out with a bang.... |
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18 Aug 08
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Empty Olympic seats? I’ll show you empty seats. Recently, lots of blogging and reporting about the empty seats at events up in Beijing. Well, down here in Shanghai we like to do things bigger - or, more empty, if you will. Case in point: A photo taken three minutes into this evening’s... |
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17 Aug 08
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Maradona in Shanghai Stadium? Jia you! For foreign visitors not intimately familiar with the modern history of Chinese soccer fandom, the unabashed enthusiasm (not to mention face paint, hats, and flags) that the local fans have shown for Argentina’s national team during the last week of... |
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15 Aug 08
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All Bets Are Off Regular readers of this blog know that earlier this week I spent a couple of days in Hong Kong at the Olympic equestrian events. The Atlantic has just posted my dispatch from that trip, “All Bets Are Off,” along with a few photos.
And for... |
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14 Aug 08
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Why it matters if a gymnast is 14. For what it’s worth, I have a feeling that the simmering controversey over whether or not the Chinese “women’s” gymnastics team has underage members is going to build into something much bigger, and possibly devolve into something... |
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13 Aug 08
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Chinese Security Begets Shanghai Hospitality. Last month, in advance of the Olympics, the Chinese civil aviation authorities implemented many of the same (sometimes silly) post-9/11 airport security restrictions that have plagued US travelers for nearly six years. Among these is a ban on cigarette... |
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13 Aug 08
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Hot Dogs and Marching Bands: Images from HK’s Olympics As promised, some additional photos and commentary from Hong Kong’s Olympic equestrian venue in Shatin. Overall, it’s a lovely venue, and the events - based upon one night’s sample - are extremely well-run and organized. I haven’t... |
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13 Aug 08
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A Tale of Two Olympic Cities A comparison of intermission scoreboard messages at Olympic events in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
First, Hong Kong, where the organizers used the dead time and their color scoreboard to educate spectators on the finer points of team eventing rules.
Next,... |
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13 Aug 08
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Adult teeth Just finished watching the women’s gymnastics final out of the corner of my eye while working in my hotel room. I know nothing about the sport, or the event, and I have only a cursory knowledge of the controversy over whether or not the Chinese... |
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12 Aug 08
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Equestrian Goes Late It’s 2:20 AM as I write this in Hong Kong, and I’m just back to my hotel. Equestrian went until 12:30 AM, not including the medal ceremonies and victory laps.
I’ll have much, much more to say about the venue, the facility, the superior... |
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12 Aug 08
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Hong Kong’s Olympic Equestrian Class For the first part of the week I’m in Hong Kong, covering - of all things - equestrian events. I’ll have more to say about all of that - including the venues (complete with photos) - tomorrow, probably.
For now, I’ll just say that... |
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10 Aug 08
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Shanghai ? Argentina On Thursday I published a short dispatch at the Atlantic in which I described the deep affinity that Shanghai’s sports fans have for the Argentine national team.
So it makes a certain kind of cosmic sense that - when I arrived at Shanghai Stadium... |
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10 Aug 08
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Life in [Y]our Hands It began to rain around the time that everybody was arriving at Shanghai Stadium for tonight’s soccer matches. At first, just a drizzle. But then, quite suddenly, the thunder started and the skies opened up. There’s very little shelter in the... |
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10 Aug 08
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The Drum Tower Murder - Local Connections. The man who was murdered on Beijing’s Drum Tower is Todd Bachman, the CEO of a 123-year-old Minnesota-based home and garden center. That might not make much of an impression if you didn’t grow up in the Twin Cities. But if you did, then it was... |
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09 Aug 08
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Shanghai Scrap Cam … Live on BBC Quick post to let interested readers know that I’ll be appearing live on the BBC World News, via webcam, Saturday at 12:45 GMT. If you’re in China, with access to BBC World News, that’s 8:45 PM on Saturday night. If you’re on the... |
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08 Aug 08
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Shanghai’s Worst Concessions I had such a fine time at last night’s Olympic soccer matches that I’m really loathe hesitant to say anything negative about the experience. So, first let me say something nice: the organizers ran a smooth show. Security was omni-present, but... |
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08 Aug 08
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Shanghai’s Ambivalence Olympics The Atlantic has just posted “The Olympics’ Second City,” my dispatch from last night’s matches at Shanghai Stadium. It’s the first of several Atlantic dispatches that I’ll be doing from co-host cities during the Games. |
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07 Aug 08
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The Mission Post A quick post to note that Slate has published “Let the God Games Begin,” my overview of the somewhat foiled efforts by American evangelicals to send Christian missionaries to the Olympics. Last few days there’s been quite a bit of good... |
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07 Aug 08
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Hot August Night: Argentina v. Ivory Coast Just returned from the barn-burner men’s Olympic soccer match between Argentina and Ivory Coast at Shanghai Stadium. The Argentines pulled it out at the end for a 2-1 win. All in all - a fantastic atmosphere in the stands. Great fans, great overall... |
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07 Aug 08
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Six Years Later … a personal note. I arrived in Shanghai on September 5, 2002, with plans to be here - I dunno - six to eight weeks, and then head back to the US. Obviously, it didn’t quite work out that way.
Many things have kept me here. Too many to list, really. But the best... |
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06 Aug 08
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And now, the Catholic Olympic Bible We’ve come a long, long way since the bogus Olympic Bible Ban stories of last fall. First, the Chinese Protestants publish a special, bi-lingual edition (50,000, complete with the Olympic seal on the cover) for distribution during the Games. And now... |
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06 Aug 08
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Olympic Ecumenicalism, Chinese-style Bet this hasn’t happened anywhere else. From UCAN:
In mid-July, all parish priests and Catholic volunteers in Beijing joined workers of other religions to practice terrorist prevention at a local mosque.
[Shanghai Scrap will offer a reward -... |
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06 Aug 08
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… only as far as I can throw it. The mystery deepens. For weeks, Olympic authorities have been adamant that spectators are not allowed to bring food or drink into Shanghai Stadium during the soccer matches to be held there. But thanks to a helpful reader, we learn that the rule has been... |
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