don’t sneeze at others
It’s late April, nearly six months after the deadly SARS virus launched its sneak attack on southern China, and Shanghai — the country’s most populous city — has just seemed to take notice. About a week ago, we went from inaction to overreaction literally overnight. I remember the day well. It was a pleasant day: not too hot, not too cold. I went for a run that night, and I could actually see the stars. I took a deep breath, and the air actually felt fresh. Little did I know that, all of a sudden, I would be surrounded by one of the most rapidly spreading infectious diseases known to man … fear.
04.29.2003, 4:02 PM · Observations, Politics · Comments (3)
attention shoppers!
The ‘danwashburn.com online store’ is now open for business! Help Dan afford to eat dinner tonight!
Go here — http://www.cafeshops.com/shanghaidiaries — for all of your favorite custom-designed Shanghai Diaries merchandise …
04.23.2003, 10:51 PM · Site News · Comments (8)
my far eastern family
Thanks to SARS, none of my family members will visit me in China this year. Good thing my students at Shanghai University are doing their best to make me feel like I’ve got a family here, too. Here are excerpts from a couple student e-mails I’ve received over the past 24 hours:
“By the way,I once saw you having bread during the break of the class by hands.Well ,it’s not ok to do so because of the fact that SARS has spread in Shanghai now.You’d better wash your hands very very carefully before you have bread or something else.Wish you stay healthy in Shanghai.”
04.19.2003, 7:37 PM · School · Comments (6)
greetings bloggers
Plenty of new stuff on the rest of the site (there is more to this site than the blog, you know). So click on www.danwashburn.com and stay a while. You might actually find something worth staying for.
04.16.2003, 2:20 AM · Site News · Comments (2)
no mom, it wasn’t SARS
People say you haven’t really visited China until you’ve vomited in China. Well, I’ve finally arrived! Not sure if it was the 24-hour stomach flu or just some bad fried rice — maybe it was from doing my taxes — but I found myself either kneeling or sitting (or, sometimes, with the unfortunate need to do both at the same time) most of yesterday and some of today.
04.16.2003, 2:04 AM · Observations, Politics, School · Comments (6)
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)