Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Pajama Police!

With the World Expo starting in May, the city is scrambling to make improvements before anticipated visitors pour in. Girly bars that line a couple of streets have been boarded up, road construction abounds, and new subways lines are on the way.

One 'improvement' that has everyone talking about is the crackdown on pajamas - a quirky part of the culture here. It's very common to see locals walk around in their pjs out in the streets. Nice pjs mean status, an obsession for many Chinese (Strangely enough, walking around with a Starbucks coffee is also conveys status since the drinks are relatively spendy here.). It's sending the message, "I'm well off enough to buy these pjs to sleep in!" No one bats an eye at someone stepping out in their pjs to grab something from the local market, or strolling in the busiest parts of the city.

Here are some pics of pjs out in the streets: http://shanghaiist.com/2009/10/30/around_shanghai_pajama_fights_cat_s.php and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3723539/Chinas-pyjamas-police-fight-Shanghais-daytime-love-of-nightwear.html.

I say, who cares about the pj wearers! Perhaps the pajama crackdown committee should focus on some more important issues like personal hygiene and manners...

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Insulation. Heard of it?!

A recent notice posted around our apartment complex basically asked residents to keep their faucets running on the hot over night. With temperatures dipping below freezing, the pipes might freeze...and they have before in the past. From last winter, I can still remember feeling sorry for the shivering maintenance crew guy standing outside on the balcony holding a hairdryer for 45 minutes on the water pipes as he endured the gusty winds. No one seems to think insulation is important in newly apartment complexes or what we jokingly call concrete palaces.

These 'palaces' also lack wall insulation. The outer walls of our apartment are simply painted concrete. With heat running in the winter, it's a breeding ground for mold to grow, which it has before at a previous apartment we lived in. Ay ya (expressing disappointment in Chinese)...another example of how things are built cheaply here without thinking about the potential consequences. Does it make sense to have to run hot water all night?